Rise of the Spirit Monk
by Milennial
Summary: An empire ruled by an iron fist, treachery spanning decades and restless souls stalking the lands. Never did Naruto imagine to land in such a world, but he is not about to let that stop him. Be it spirits, demons or assassins, many will try to hinder his journey on the road that will change the fate of many...for better or worse.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome everyone, to the very first Naruto x Jade Empire crossover ever done. Allow me a few words on the front and you can be on your way. First, this might not be the best Naruto Xover you might see on this site, I am fine with that, but at least I can say that I tried to do something new. As this is my first story ever done (not counting the short prequel), please try to bear with me.**

**I am aware that not everyone here ever played Jade Empire, so I will try to make things understandable even for those unfamiliar with it. And last, this is technically a sequel to my ´The Beginning at the End´, so my recommendation would be to read that first, but that´s up to you. Now, let´s begin.**

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It was a surprisingly warm afternoon that day, with only the slightest breeze flowing through the village of Two Rivers, a small town at the borders of the Jade Empire with a river nearby. For all intents and purposes, it was just another small settlement, insignificant with nothing of real importance located there.

Or at least, it should be that way. But not always things tend to be so simple, as a group of bandits was about to find the hard way. Just a short while ago, they arrived via boat and at the behest of their master were about to raid and pillage the town while their lord, replenishing their supplies so that they could move on.

"Nice little town you have, not a lot of guards are there? Where do you keep your stocks of food!?" demanded one of the raiders, sneering at the cowering peasants.

"Forget them, let´s start looting already. We´ll get first dibs on the good stuff, "added another.

Honestly, the villagers were disgusting in the eyes of the bandits as a whole, just helpless prey waiting to be exploited and put out of their misery afterwards. However, before anything could take place, a voice spoke out.

"Are there guests coming this way?"

All eyes turned towards where the voice originated from, revealing a figure that the villagers were quick to recognize, knowing him for quite a few years now.

After all, who could ever mistake him with someone else?

His blonde, almost golden hair and his deep blue eyes with strangely narrowed pupils were a rarity in itself, since no one else they knew possessed such exotic looks. Dressed in dark pants with a crimson sash, a simple sleeveless linen shirt and a pair of leather bracers on his arms, the figure of Naruto was unmistakable to those who knew him.

Jumping down from his vantage point on the wall, the young man did not seem all that bothered that the gathered thugs were now fully concentrated on him, ready to end his life at any moment without a moment´s hesitation.

It was natural really, some of them had weapons and others had their martial styles, what could just one person do to them all?

"Who the hell are you," yelled one of the bandits, although his tone made it clear that it did not matter one way or another, no, to them, the young man was just another victim that got in their way.

The blonde himself did not seem to be concerned with a dozen of seasoned raiders that were seconds away from killing him. No, he merely cranked his neck a bit and continued.

"I don´t think that you really have any right to demand anything, much less my name. Now, here is how things will play out. Either the lot of you will retreat so I can resume my afternoon tea…..or I will personally destroy every last one of you and then some. So what will it be?"

That was obviously the wrong thing to say, as in the next second, the gathered thugs charged forward, not too happy with someone interrupting their fun. Strangely, almost nobody seemed to have any reaction towards the absurd request itself, although some of the villagers almost made an exemplary face-plant. How odd indeed.

With a sigh, the blonde got into a stance, waiting for the first one to get within range, and then sprung forward with the speed of an attacking serpent, dodging and weaving around their clumsy blows with startling ease, hardly any energy wasted in his movements.

Before long, the group that attacked him was on the ground, either incapacitated or giving the term ´a face only mother could love´a whole new meaning if they were unfortunate, while the blonde hardly seemed worse for wear.

Prodding one of them with his foot, the young man was obviously disappointed in the outcome, either that or he was bored with the mediocre display his enemies showed in their brief fight.

Turning his head towards the arriving militia members (as few of them as this village had anyway), he enjoyed their looks of surprise before addressing their captain.

"I am leaving them in your care now, my part is done. Do what you like with them."

And with that, he gave them a fox-like grin and walked away, not really caring what would happen with the surviving outlaws next. It truly was a bit anticlimactic that the fight was over so quickly, he was hoping for someone who would present a true test of his abilities.

That or maybe his almost seventeen years of refined training and hard work were making him a bit edgy. After all, what good was being a fighter if there was no one who could offer a challenge, right?

But he would have his chance soon enough. His apprenticeship under his teacher was nearly at an end, meaning that he would soon be free to travel as he pleased. There was a lot the empire had in store for him, he was sure of that. Of course, he could really leave anytime he wanted, but there was no rush.

Here, he had a skilled teacher that raised him almost as if he were his own (not to mention taught him what he knew), respect of both the villagers and his peers and a good friend that was always there when he needed company. Was it any wonder that he hardly wanted to leave to begin with?

Funny, before his arrival to this realm, he never would have suspected that hand to hand combat could be so…..invigorating. Back when he was a ninja in training, he viewed it only as a means to an end, the end usually involving defeating his enemies, but he never took any real joy in it.

Now though, when he had given it a chance, it no longer felt so empty, but instead carried a strange satisfaction whenever he engaged an opponent with nothing but his own body as a weapon and came out on top in the end.

It was funny to see how quickly he took a liking to it, especially when he had a teacher that did not push him away in favor of someone else or gave him only vague clues how to accomplish the desired result.

While he lamented the loss of his ninja techniques (since his new body lacked the capacity for chakra manipulation), when compared to getting a new chance at life it was hardly worth even thinking about it.

Not that there were no alternatives, there was a similar energy to chakra called Chi and he was taught how to use it, but sadly so far it could only be used to empower his strikes to do more damage or speed up his natural healing, the latter at the cost of requiring a meditative trance however.

But at least it was something.

Plus now that he thought things through, it took a genuine effort to hide or sneak up on someone, making him wonder if he was not dependent on chakra a bit too much back then. If so, then this entire setback would do wonders for him in the future, of that he could be certain.

Arriving at the gates of the school of martial arts that was located just outside of the village, he stepped inside, to the place that had been his home for almost two decades in a row.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Master Li was an old man. Certainly, his wizened old body still held more power than most people could ever achieve in their entire lives, but he could nonetheless feel the pressure of the past decades pressing down on him.

But he could not rest, not yet, for there were still things he had to do before his time was up. Not so surprisingly, a few of them were connected to his senior student, things that would soon have a large impact upon the empire itself.

Over the years, he made sure that the blonde haired youth would absorb all he could and for the most part he was even surprised how good the boy could get once he put his mind on something.

He was little over twenty years old and already his aptitude for both unarmed combat was impressive even to him, coupled with his skillful usage of various weapons made him quite deadly on his own, but that was nowhere near enough.

He knew that whilst the blonde was an accomplished fighter, there were some truly dangerous people out there, beings that defied the traditional borders of what a man was capable of. He knew, because he was one such case himself.

Sun Li, younger brother to the emperor Sun Hai, former leader of the entire empire army and now a lowly teacher of martial arts known by very few people, he was all that and perhaps more.

And it was vital for his student to learn the truth, both about himself and about the heritage that was lost all those years ago. He kept it hidden for all those years, but no longer. He could feel it. The times were peaceful, but it was more akin to the quiet before the storm than to anything else.

Seeing his student walk in, the former general motioned for the blonde to join him, knowing that they were about to have a discussion that was long overdue.

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"What do you mean defeated?! It was supposed to be just another routine gathering of supplies with no expected resistance, yet you not only failed, but dare to show your face back here on your own!"

The bandit kneeling in front of his leader was doing his best not to start shaking like a leaf in the wind, not daring to look up and meet the wrath of his superior. Oh how he wished that he could simply flee from this place, but just like the rest of his fellows, he was afraid what would happen if he were to displease his lord (any more than he already had already).

It was not his fault that things ended up as they did! Who would have thought that such a measly little village would have someone as skilled as that strange blonde who took out all of them with so little effort?

Hell, he was lucky in sneaking away, since the rest of his comrades either fell at the hands of that blue-eyed menace or were executed by the local militia not long after that. Seeing how his leader was furious however made him think that maybe he should have not returned at all.

With a growl, the chief sitting on his makeshift throne leaned forward, his gaze alone being enough to pin the man to the ground through the sheer power of his gaze alone.

"Who was it? To have defeated all twelve of you alone, which should have taken some skill and no one renowned enough was seen in these parts. Who is the one that defeated you worms?!"

"It….It was probably a student from that school the locals were talking about, run by some Master Li or something like that. Blonde hair, eyes like pieces of ice, moves like an attacking serpent."

If the poor sod thought that the information would appease his chief, then he was seriously mistaken. While there were rumors of a small school teaching martial arts in the area, no one took them seriously. After all, what respectable master would make a school at the very edges of the empire?

"Are you telling me that a single student destroyed a dozen of my warriors? Get out of my sight or I will kill you myself!"

Not willing to push his luck any further, the man quickly got up and ran towards the exit of the cave, only to gasp as a dagger buried itself in the back of his skull, killing him instantly. Stepping out from the shadows, a cloaked figure strolled towards the fresh corpse on the ground, pulling the dagger out with practiced ease.

"So the rumors were true it seems. Maybe you should have a closer look at that village, perhaps it holds the one whom I seek."

"I don´t care for your mission assassin, but that village will have to pay for this," grunted the larger man, obviously not too happy at being told what to do.

But as it was, he had to obey the request (see demand), no matter how much it hurt his pride to take orders from someone else. It was that or risk being found out by the imperial patrols, a confrontation he was not willing to take…..yet.

There was no way around it, no matter how humiliating it was. Perhaps slaughtering a bunch of peasants would ease his mind. Oh yes, he could already imagine the coming atrocities, one more brutal than the next.

The village of Two Rivers would soon feel his wrath.

Without anyone noticing, the assassin slipped back into the shadows, a nasty smirk showing on his pale face. Perhaps this was a sign of the prey he and his brethren had searched for all these years.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Taking a slow stroll through the school´s gardens, Naruto pondered about what had been revealed to him during the afternoon. He always suspected that his aged master was hiding something, he had plenty of experience with people doing things like that.

Out of gratitude for all the things done for him over the years he kept quiet, knowing that sooner or later, it would resurface, every secret did in time. But still, no matter what he expected, some of the things still managed to surprise him.

To think that the one training him was one of the two brothers of the emperor himself and an ex-military general, well you certainly don´t hear that every day.

But more importantly, he discovered the true origin of the body he acquired, that of a Spirit Monk, or so it was called at least. Shepherds of the dead, warrior monks, servants of the Water Dragon, deity of both water and the dead, they were all that and more.

It would seem that his role was only just beginning, for things were set in motion years ago already, shortly before his merging with the body he now possessed if he had to estimate.

Almost twenty years ago, the empire was suffering under a long drought, one unparalleled in its long history. As the situation grew worse with every passing month and year, emperor Sun Hai tasked his brother Li (known as the glorious strategist for his tactical genius on the battlefield) in finding a way to restore things back to the way they were before.

And Sun Li did just that. The only way to do such a tremendous task was to assault the temple of the dragon goddess and claim her power, a task that no mortal before dared to even consider, let alone execute.

However, when the imperial army was about to reach its destination, the emperor´s brother had a change of heart and warned the monks of the incoming danger. In the end, it only postponed the inevitable.

But time was running out and the emperor assaulted the mountain monastery, overwhelming the defenders and seizing the power of the Water Dragon for himself.

Appalled at the siege he helped plan, Sun Li barely managed to get himself and the youngest of the now extinct spirit monks (his baby form at the time) to safety, becoming both a dirty secret (since officially he died during the siege, along with the youngest brother Sun Kin) and a first priority target for the countless assassins Sun Hai had at his beck and call.

It was a small miracle that the old man managed to stay in hiding for so long, but the sheer size of the empire apparently proved to be an advantage in this regard.

Regardless, what mattered was that with the Water Dragon gone, the spirits of the dead now had no guide to show them the way to the afterlife, some of them even going mad and attacking the living as well.

He could sympathize, during his stay at the void, he was in a similar position indeed, the key difference was that either his world had no such deity in the first place (a hard thing to believe, since the normally invisible seal he bore on his stomach was made with the help of one), or it did not care one way or another that his world ended, both options hardly making him feel any better about it.

Still, something about the whole story seemed off, like there was still something missing to it. He did not know what it was, but his instincts were telling him that there was more to this story than met the eye.

_**"Finally starting to think for yourself are you? It´s about time,"**_ growled a voice inside of his head.

_´Kyuubi? I did not hear from you for a long time, what´s going on?´_

Not to say that the fox did not make its presence known from time to time, but unsurprisingly, but it found the serene and tranquil environment of the school dreadfully boring, so it was rare for him to come out.

Almost as if knowing what he was thinking, the ancient being snorted, but it sounded a bit strained if he had to guess.

_**"You are not the only one who had to adjust to all this. While you were on the outside, I had to deal with the huge influx of information that we gained during the brief union of my kind. **_

_**Memories, thoughts, I have been killing all those things gathered over the years by the other eight, keeping only a little that could prove useful."**_

_´You mean like the soul migration process we discovered?´_

_**"Not exactly. That was a glimpse of the Juubi itself, no, what I am talking about are all the things the other bijuu did in their lives, things that no longer matter to us. **_

_**And you better believe it that looking through the thoughts of a nutcase like Shukaku was hardly a pleasant experience. The process is far from complete, but for now I must rest."**_

_´Take it at your own pace, we have time.´_

_**"I wonder about that. Wake me up if anything interesting happens."**_

In terms of the fox, it meant ´Do not disturb unless there is a major bloodbath going on or things are getting destroyed on a large-scale´, a fact that took the blonde years to fully comprehend but hey, it was progress.

Back in his first life, Naruto could never be patient or anything of the sort, his impulsive and overly reckless personality made such a task all but impossible. Not anymore however, the long training had seen to that. While he still could be a bit restless, it was definitively a far cry from his early years.

This was also one of the few reasons why he did not jump right into the scene that was unfolding right in front of him. It would seem that his best friend was just about to get into a fight with the one person he seriously disliked. Ah, what a day.

Okay, things would probably never go that far, both of them well aware that unsanctioned fights were prohibited and were too afraid of Li getting angry at them (even if one of them would never admit it, but damn, the old man could be scary when he wanted to), but it still was a funny sight.

"What´s the matter Dawn Star, are you afraid Master Li might find out?"

The dark haired girl in question only frowned and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, her expression that of someone who just stepped into something too disgusting to even bother naming it.

"No, what I am afraid of is how many more times do I have to keep saying the same thing over and over again. I can pick my own poison thank you very much, so leave me be Gao."

Gao the Lesser, the one student that managed to get on Naruto´s nerves more often than he would bother to count. Son of a wealthy and rather infamous criminal, he was essentially a person that the blonde would call a spoiled brat, believing that everything in the world belonged to him just because his father was a well-known slaver and pirate.

Not to say that he was unskilled, hardly so, but the blonde was better and everyone knew it, much to his amusement and to Gao´s anger. Honestly, with his attitude, he was almost begging for someone to shut him up. That made Dawn Star´s dismissal of him even funnier than it should be.

"If my charm can´t lift your spirit, I´ll buy the ground from under you."

"Flaunting your undeserved wealth will hardly impress me Gao, you should really learn some tact from others. Is this another trick learned from your criminal father?"

"Do not insult my father wench!"

As Gao moved to strike her for slandering his father, he suddenly found his wrist caught in an iron grip, staring into a pair deep blue eyes, an all too familiar face showing up behind him.

"I think she meant ´Get lost´, so maybe it would be best for you to leave," smirked Naruto, though not really in the mood to deal with the other male for much longer, especially since he was hitting on his best friend…..again.

However, his blunt dismissal only made things worse. Pulling himself free, Gao pointed at him with clearly visible disdain in his voice.

"You! Why was it you that had to fight the bandits, I am just as worthy as you are, no even more than you will ever be!"

_´Man, this brings back memories. Never thought I would see someone with an ego like Sasuke again. What are the chances of him being an incarnation of that prick?´_ thought the blonde, wondering if it was just his luck or if he had a knack for finding arrogant morons no matter where he was.

Fortunately, the other student was oblivious to his thoughts and stormed off, leaving the two of them alone.

"Ugh, he is Gao the Lesser in everything he does. Thank you for stepping in Naruto," smiled Dawn Star.

"Maybe he is trying to compensate for something? His name certainly suggests so. But how come you did not take him out, you are strong enough to knock him out yourself if you really wanted?"

"Who said that I can´t? But I knew you were here and Gao always fears you more than me."

Staring for a few seconds, Naruto´s eyebrows were twitching slightly. Either Dawn Star was far more devious than he gave her credit for, or she just really knew how to turn things around, a talent one would expect more from a noble than from a cloistered student of martial arts.

Oh well, if it was anyone else, the blonde might be a bit mad, but he just did not have it in him to say no to the girl.

Like him, Dawn Star was in the school all those years, almost as long as he was in fact. That aside, she was an orphan as well, one with a rather strange ability: To see the spirits of the dead. Hard to say if it was a talent or a latent ability of her own, but the girl could see ghosts straight from day one.

Most of the time it was more of a bother than help however, like that time a year ago when a little boy drowned in the river. The problem was that Dawn Star saw his spirit and conveyed his message not to feel guilty about it to the boy´s mother, something that almost caused a riot from the other villagers.

Ever since that day, she had been a bit ostracized by the rest of the village, a situation all too familiar to Naruto. After that, the girl did not try anything like that ever again, even if the ability remained with her.

Problems with the supernatural aside, Dawn Star was nonetheless a smart one with undeniable skills in combat, not equal to his own but strong in her own right. The fact that she was quite easy on the eyes was merely a bonus as far as he was concerned.

That was when he noticed that she was talking to him and he was not listening at all.

"I´m sorry Dawn Star, could you repeat that for me? I didn´t catch that."

If there was one thing he learned, it was that a little politeness can go a long way. Not on the fields of battle or in a tavern brawl, but it did wonders when you had to talk your way out of a situation. Should that fail, he could always be a smartass when it suited him.

The girl in question giggled a bit, apparently finding it amusing that her friend could be so absentminded at times. The two friends talked for a bit, unaware of the events that were destined to soon take place.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several days have passed since then, it was a beautiful afternoon and yet, Naruto found that he was unable to keep still, which was a first in a long time. After years of practicing meditation and the like, he came a long way from his previously impulsive and reckless personality, but for some reason his more active side was starting to act up again.

Was it the revelation of his duty as a spirit monk, leftover adrenaline from the fight earlier (if it could be called a fight to begin with) or something else? He had a bad feeling about all this, one that he could not shake off no matter how hard he tried.

Was something going to happen? He hoped not, but exactly when in his life did things go according to plan?

As he sat in his room, his eyes kept going towards one of the corners, where a long, staff like object was wrapped in cloth and resting against the wall. It was a gift from Li, a weapon whose origin dated back towards the founding days of the empire, its maker long forgotten by the pages of history.

He still remembered the day when he received it from the aged teacher as a sign that he was entering his last year at the school, a sign that he was ready for whatever awaited him on the road ahead.

Normally he kept it here in his room, since most of the time his few unarmed styles kept him more than safe, plus he really did not want too many people to recognize the weapon and try to steal it. It was a legendary object after all, a treasure to anyone who wielded it.

Siwang, the cursed spear of mortality, first carried by the emperor Sagacious Tien and wielded by many after the death of its first owner. Now it was his and his alone.

But thinking about it only made him more restless, almost as if he was heading into another fight again. There was just something wrong about this day, his senses were acting up like a nest full of angry hornets, despite the seemingly calm and silent day.

Even if he had a new body and a new life, Uzumaki Naruto still carried over most of the experience he had before, experience gained through fighting enemies many times stronger or more numerous than him.

Hell, he fought two of the seven ninja swordsmen from Kiri (three if he were to count his brief skirmishes with Kisame), Orochimaru, Uchiha Itachi and countless others, if that did not count for something than nothing did. So even if he lacked the techniques from his Shinobi career, he still had enough skill and instincts that he gained throughout the countless fights he had.

Compared to that, the threat of a sudden attack seemed trivial, boring even. Maybe he even wanted for something to happen, just to keep him occupied? After all, he volunteered that afternoon to face the bandits, just because he was getting bored.

That was when he first heard the screams from the village. Thanks to being near to the small town, he could easily notice if anything was amiss, just like now.

Then, before he could even get up, the first fires appeared. The screams intensified, but this time there was another tone added to them, one that he recognized and knew well.

Those were the sounds of battle, where everything was swept into a whirlwind of chaos and carnage, a calling that tugged at his more primitive urges, begging him to join the show. And he had no intention of turning away.

As he rushed towards the school gates, he was greeted by the sight of both Sun Li and Dawn Star doing the same thing. Seeing him caching up to them, the elderly master waited for him to join them before speaking out, his voice no longer being that of a stern but fair school instructor, but that of a true military commander that would not accept no for an answer.

"I see you are up. Good, now here is what you need to do. Proceed into the village and protect the villagers, keep them safe while I ensure that there will be no reinforcements for whoever is attacking. Dawn Star, you are to go as well, the two of you should be enough to secure victory in this. Go!"

Even Naruto had to admit that the old man certainly had some undeniable charisma to him, confirmation that the man definitively commanded armies before. If anything, even most ninja who commanded him (or tried to do so) did not invoke such charisma and that meant something.

Was this the true face of Sun Li? Perhaps, but now it did not matter, repelling the attackers took precedence over anything else.

As the trio made a run from the school and towards the village, a lonely shadow observed them from the shadows, like a predator stalking his prey, before too he disappeared, rushing to perform his own task.

_´Sun Li was located. After all these years, the will of the emperor will be done…´ _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dodging another blow that almost took his head off, Naruto quickly slammed his palm into the stomach of his opponent, sending him to the ground in an unmoving heap, giving the blonde some breathing room at last.

Not far from his position, he could see Dawn Star holding her own, sword in hand and doing quite a good job herself. It was no secret that while she was adept with unarmed combat, swordplay seemed to be the area where she shined most…..aside from scaring people with messages from the dead of course.

Still, he did not lament not taking his own weapon with him, given the opposition. While numerous, those thugs were not that much of a threat by themselves, the main advantage being in their numbers, not in individual skills.

And now, after the ruckus of the battle brought in more students from the school, even that was beginning to dissipate, allowing the villagers to get clear from the zones where fights were taking place. Fortunately, the few buildings that were put to the torch did not manage to spread the fire further; otherwise the situation could have been a whole lot worse.

Nonetheless, the fighting was still going strong, neither side willing to step down. The harder they pushed, the more the other side pushed back, but Naruto had confidence that the others would deal with the rest; he had a more pressing concern in mind.

Where could their leader possible be? Someone had to be in charge of this raid, but he could see no such person among the fighters. From his experience back home, he knew how bad it was to allow an enemy leader flee to fight another day, those types always seemed to come back and bite him in the ass.

If they arrived the same way that small group did a few days back, then there was only one option. Seeing his sword wielding friend finishing her opposition, he called out to her.

"Dawn Star, want to help me looking for whoever is leading those guys or are you staying to help?"

Wiping a bit of blood from her magenta colored attire, the girl nodded, the usual cheerful smile gone from her face. For someone raised in a relatively tranquil environment, she really knew how to get serious when the times called for it.

"Right behind you my friend …"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(At the same time)

With a loud cry, the messenger bird took to the skies, carrying a simple yet important message to who knows where. The man responsible for it slowly turned around, facing towards the familiar face of Sun Li, the greatest traitor the empire had ever known in its long reign.

Shedding his traveling cloak obscuring his features, the assassin revealed a set of dark leather armor that only one order in the world had as a uniform: The Lotus Assassins, the enigmatic enforcers of the emperor´s divine will and the feared knives in the dark that silenced anyone deemed as a threat to the empire.

The assassin's pale, hairless face stretched in a hideous parody of a grin, showing off a mouthful of fang-like teeth, obviously unconcerned that he was facing such a fearsome opponent.

"You are too late, glorious strategist. But nonetheless, I have to salute you. Your strategy is impeccable as expected, we were expecting an army, yet once again, you surprised us."

Dusting himself off, the traitorous Sun sibling did not seem overly fazed by the proclamations of his would be killer.

"Your search is over assassin, but you will not live to tell the tale of your success."

The armored enforcer only smirked, preparing for combat. However, before he could even blink, Sun Li was upon him. In three unbelievably fast strikes, the man´s body was instantly paralyzed, falling to its knees. Finishing the work he started, the aged general made a quick chop to his neck, killing him instantly with a sickening crack echoing throughout the clearing.

_´That went as expected. Now let´s see how my student is faring…..´_

Making a dash towards the riverside cliffs, the man known as the Glorious Strategist watched the events below with great interest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

For once it looked like the blonde was right on track. While they encountered a few more bandits on their way, they managed to find the means through which the outlaws arrived. Arriving at the beach, they were greeted with the sight of a large ship docked just a little away from the shore.

And it seems someone was expecting them as well. Leaning over the wooden railing, a tall, muscular man watched their arrival with obvious displeasure. While dressed in simple clothing, his scarred bald head and his short scruffy beard made an unpleasant visage.

"What´s this?! Those idiots can´t even stop a pair of children, useless lot."

Before Naruto could come up with an appropriate comeback however, the apparent leader looked closer at him, recognizing his features.

"Wait, I know you. Yes, you are that brat that defeated my men earlier. In that case, I will just have to make due with those things that accursed assassin brought aboard."

With a grunt of displeasure, the man took out three small spheres, each about a size of an average orange but having a sickly green mist inside of them. Throwing them onto the beach, the bald leader watched with satisfaction as the spheres shattered into pieces, the strange mist escaping violently from the remains.

For a few seconds, everything was silent, every sound in the world seemed to have vanished. A cloud obscured the sun, making the world look darker than it truly was.

Then, with an inhuman roar, the mist slowly began to take shape, taking on a humanoid appearance, or rather three of them to be precise.

But there was no humanity in those shapes, indeed, while they looked human, their semi-transparent bodies, faces twisted in bestial rage and agony, coupled with the foul aura around them hardly made for a convincing mask.

They did not look like human…..but they were. Naruto did not know what made him recognize the fact, but those truly were souls of the dead, trapped in such a monstrous form. So it was true. The dead were walking among the living, as obvious by those three. Only his iron prevented him shaking in the face of such an otherworldly opposition.

Nearby, Dawn Star gripped her head, as if a sudden pain spiked throughout her. Her ability to sense the supernatural obviously became a double-edged sword here and for the first time, the blonde was starting to regret leaving his weapon back at the school.

Glancing back at the smirking leader of the bandits, Naruto wondered if the fool really knew what exactly he was dealing with, what he so carelessly unleashed upon them. But it did not matter. For now, he would have to deal with those creatures.

With a loud shriek, the spectres lunged forward, like wild beasts that have been let off the leash. Readying himself, Naruto had a fleeting feeling that his troubles were just beginning.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**And so ends the first chapter, I hope it was enjoyable. Tell me what you think and see you all next time...**


	2. Chapter 2

As the three strange spectres lunged forward, two of them against Naruto and one against Dawn Star, Sun Li continued to watch from his vantage point, knowing that the first meeting with maddened spirits was the crucial part for both of them.

Since Two Rivers was quite secluded and away from anything major happening, hardly any spirits ever occurred here and those few that did were nothing but harmless ghosts that would soon fade away.

These however were the real deal, dead souls denied rest, turning them ferocious or outright bestial as time passed, trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead yet belonging to neither. With their incorporeal form being unnaturally durable and still retaining knowledge of any style they knew in life, these undead beings were the perfect test for the young spirit monk.

Would his heritage shine through or would he be forced to step in? He personally hoped the former, a great deal of things depended on it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Dodging a swipe from the spectral fists, the blonde frowned when his own attack connected, the normally powerful hit only made the maddened soul recoil a bit before continuing its assault. He was about to make another crack at his foe, only for the second ghost to throw a melon sized fireball at his position.

Jumping back, Naruto was glad that he chose to evade rather than block the fire, since on impact it made a large burst of flames that engulfed his previous location. Honestly, how come a spirit of the dead could be throwing fireballs, perhaps it was a style of some sort? If so, he was definitively asking Li about it later.

_´So how do I deal with this? I´m faster and stronger than either of those things by a good deal, but either they take little damage or it takes something more to kill them. Attacks on organs or vital points does not work, makes sense, since those things are dead. Hey fox, wake up, got any ideas?´_

_**´I am aware of the situation brat, the battle from earlier disturbed my sleep. Why won´t you try using that Chi method you know? Isn´t it supposed to give an extra kick to the things you hit?´**_

For a moment, Naruto had to resist the urge to slap himself in the face. Really, he knew the damn method for years now (even if most of it were basics) and yet he did not think of it. Why?

_**´That´s because you are still an idiot, albeit a bit more tolerable than before. Now concentrate,´**_replied the fox to his unspoken question.

As much as he would like to tell the fox to shut up, Naruto knew that his tenant was right in this. In his focused state, he almost forgot about some of his earlier training, but not anymore.

Not that it mattered too much, even if Chi would not work, he could always pull out the big guns and use a bit of the demonic power in him, although he was reluctant to do so, knowing that it would raise questions he really did not want to answer right now, or ever for that matter.

While they both lost a good deal of energy, there were some benefits gained from the whole ordeal. His physical strength, agility and reflexes were better than those of his previous life at its peak (without resorting to the demonic power of course) and since the fox lost a good deal of power as well, he had a much easier time manipulating its power than ever before.

But of course if he could win this fight without resorting to the demonic power, all the better (though he was not afraid to tap into it should the situation call for it). Briefly focusing in a way not unlike how he used to pull on his chakra, a bluish haze surrounding his hands and feet.

Chi truly was similar to chakra, but it was different in one key aspect: You were limited by the amount you had in your body. While chakra was present in virtually every living thing and could be harvested or manipulated through several ways, Chi was a type of energy the body produced on its own and this limited how much you could hold in.

But that was for another time, he still had a fight to finish.

Letting another fireball fly pass him, he waited for the other spectre to come to him before springing into action, watching with satisfaction that his enhanced fist made the ghost howl in pain. Not wanting his enemy to recover, he quickly dashed forward and delivered several more strikes, dispersing the spirit while it was distracted.

The remaining ghost however seemed to have gone even angrier with this and faster than one would expect made a large fiery mass that took the shape of a serpentine dragon before flying towards Naruto.

The blonde was quick to get away from the blast radius, since it reminded him strongly of a technique used back home, the Katon: Karyu Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet), and he really did not want to get hit by something like that, regenerative powers or not. The dragon roared as it descended and even if it hit the ground instead of him, he still got a few burns on his body.

_´I really want to know how to do that. Using fire so easily without handseals, I would like to have a skill like that….´_

**´Ah, is my little Naruto slowly turning into a pyromaniac like me? I am so proud,´** replied Kyuubi to his inner thoughts with small (and obviously fake) tear in its eyes, although the blue-eyed youth could not see it.

_´Shut it,´_ replied Naruto, not amused by his tenant´s little remark.

Making a dash for the fire using spectre with all haste, the blonde made quick work of it before turning to see how Dawn Star was faring, dismissing the aura around his hands.

(With Dawn Star)

Despite all her years seeing the spirits of the departed, Dawn Star never encountered something like this. No matter who the ghost was when he was alive, now he was nothing but a rage driven beast, unthinking and uncaring for anything but to cause death to all around it.

She sensed all this and more and even with her training, it hurt. With her ability to sense the supernatural and her natural sensitivity to the spiritual realm, the resonance of the maddened soul was quite unnerving.

Seeing her distracted, the spectre lunged forward, its movements speeking of skill despite the obvious madness of the undead ghost. For a few moments, the dark haired girl was pushed into defensive, before she gathered her wits and made her counterattack, using the length of her sword to reach her foe while keeping him at a distance that suited her.

More than ever was she grateful that the smith who made her sword, Gujin, engraved a number of blessed markings onto the weapon, making it effective even against enemies like the one before her.

She remembered that it took an extra month to add all of them and at the time she was a little upset for the extra wait, but now she knew that she owed the weapon master a lot for the little addition.

That was when she hard the explosion and subsequently the agonized scream of a soul being dispersed, which could only mean that her blonde haired friend was victorious. Not that she had any doubts, he was Master Li´s prized student for a reason after all.

The spectre fighting her heard the blast too, momentarily stopping its attack and even turning its head to look at the source of that power. Big mistake. Not letting this chance go to waste, Dawn Star quickly closed the distance and with a strong slash dispersed the foul spirit, ending their fight faster than she had expected.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

They did it. The two of them performed even better than he expected, considering the circumstances, although he would not be lying in saying that he expected something more than what was shown.

Now more than ever he wished that he could have studied the monks before their extinction, but it was too late to think like that. There were other matters that called for his attention, such as the appearance of the lotus assassin and the message he sent before his death.

He knew that when the word of his whereabouts would reach the capital, the entire force of the assassins would answer the call and that they would stop at nothing to accomplish their goal. In other words, his apprentice would have to face the trials he set in place all those years age when he first came here.

After almost two decades, things were about to change, both in his life and in the empire itself…..

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After their fight with the maddened spirits, things quickly became a blur for Naruto. The situation quickly resolved itself when Li himself appeared, destroying the bandit ship with a single punch to the deck, a feat that gave the blonde pause.

His teacher was both a lot more skilled and powerful than he let on, or he severely underestimated him, either option was a bit embarrassing, considering how he should have known better than that. In the future, he would have to make sure that he did not let his guard down like that, or it might get him killed one day.

In any case, after finishing off the bandit leader, the day quickly passed into night and the situation finally calmed down a bit. However, trouble seemed to hound his every step, although after seventeen years of peace he was not sure if he minded at all.

If only this problem did not resolve around Gao again. After dealing with the mess, Sun Li once again called him over and in a matter of fact tone explained that it was time for the last challenge, the test for him to see if he was ready to reclaim his heritage as a spirit monk.

However, when he got to the point that the whole thing was about to take place in a hidden spirit cave and the like, the rude little shit barged in, apparently listening to them all along and immediately challenged Naruto for a match to the right to enter the cave.

If it wasn´t for his experience with a certain really insecure Uchiha, he might thought of this as ridiculous, but as it were, he only shrugged and let the master decide. Either he would get to fight Gao and defeat him like he always did, or he would watch the spoiled brat getting scolded and lectured by Li, both were just fine with him.

In the end, it was decided that they would resolve it with a fight, since in a one on one match, the winner would be clear. No one objected to the solution, save for perhaps Dawn Star (she never was one to start a fight unless absolutely necessary), so now the school was gathered around the makeshift ring, waiting for the two fighters to arrive.

Bets were in place, the normally peaceful atmosphere tense with excitement and anticipation. Unknown to most of those present, this would be the last time anything of importance would be happening at Two Rivers…..forever.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shedding his vest for the time being, Naruto could not really say he was nervous. Confidence was something he never lacked, on the opposite, even as a child, he really did not know the meaning of giving up and always held a firm belief in his victory, although at the time it could be more attributed to his stubbornness than anything else.

But if there was one thing that never changed in him, it would be how he never backed down from anything, never wavering no matter how hard his challenges were. Was it perhaps a work of his own pride?

He had an ego after all, just like anyone else, although the form he conveyed it in was rather strange during his younger years to say the least. While that changed over time, his unwillingness to give up did not.

So as he stood, preparing for his fight, there was no nervousness in him, no, only unshakeable confidence that he would be the one to emerge triumphant. He had years to train his body and mind to the best of his abilities, so what was there to fear?

"So I guess this is going to happen no matter what?"

Turning his head to greet his visitor, the blonde gave the girl a small but honest smile, not really seeing the point in trying to sugarcoat things.

"You know that this has been a long time coming Dawn Star, Gao will keep pushing his luck until someone finally takes him down a few notches, so it might as well be me."

"I know. But I don´t have to like it. Just…..stay safe please. Things are bad enough as they are."

Then she did something the blonde would never expect her to do. The girl briefly kissed him on the cheek and quickly left, leaving him momentarily stunned behind.

_´Well that was…..unexpected´_ wondered Naruto, not really having any sort of experience with expressed affection, save for his godmother, bless her wherever she was, and even that was only later in his life.

Back in Elemental Nations, it was always going from mission to mission or fighting for his life, which left him with rather poor social skills, evidenced by his early days as a genin. Even if that was no longer the case, there were still things that he did not fully understand and this was one of them.

_**´Ha ha ha ha ha, you should have seen your face, that was just priceless, oh I am definitively storing that image for later, and it only took how many years to get a girl to kiss you on her own?´**_ laughed the fox inside of his head, adding something that sounded suspiciously like blackmail, much to Naruto´s horror.

_´I don´t suppose that you will ever forget this will you?´_

_**´We shall see,´**_ answered the bijuu, obviously amused, before seemingly pausing at a sudden realization.

_**´Wait, does this mean that I will have to give you The Talk? Oh the joy of being me.**__**"**_

_´What are you talking about?´_

_**´Nothing important right now kid, you would only get distracted before the fight, I will tell you later.´**_

Shaking his head in confusion, Naruto decided that he wasted enough time already and walked out towards the ring. His opponent was waiting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"About time you showed up. I almost thought you were scared and ran away," sneered Gao with his usual dismissing tone.

"Now that´s a first, I didn´t know you could do something as complicated as thinking Gao. And who should I be afraid of? You are not that special, so who else is there?"

"Why you….."

"Enough, save your anger for your fight, not your words," scolded the elderly master his two students, even if part of him is amused at their bickering, not that he would ever admit it aloud of course.

"Now, take your places."

The two of them did so, their bodies tense with anticipation. Both of them wanted nothing more than to see the other broken on the ground, battered beyond repair. Although it was common courtesy in a duel to make a small bow an opponent, neither gave it.

"Begin!"

And with that, the two lunged forward, like two animals fighting over dominance. No hesitation, no mercy, just a clear desire to emerge as the victor.

Dodging a fist to his face, Naruto cursed under his breath when he felt a strike hitting his ribs and a familiar sense of dizziness flowed through his body. Oh how he hated the Heavenly Wave style, not only it made his body slower but his reflexes also had a harder time in keeping up.

At least he managed to get a nice uppercut in exchange, but even for someone like him it would take several moments to recover from the momentary handicap, long enough for anyone smart to capitalize on it.

And as bad luck would have it, Gao was extremely arrogant, not stupid, no matter how it sometimes looked the opposite. From the way he came right for him, it was obvious he wanted to take advantage of the situation, but he was not about to let him have the advantage.

Flipping backwards, he was honestly surprised that even while slowed down his evasive maneuver still resulted in kicking Gao in the chin, unexpected but welcomed as it gave him an extra second to recover.

Feeling the brunt of the slowing technique being over, he avoided a hit that would normally aim for his throat and swiped his left hand in a claw like motion, grinning slightly when he saw several thin cuts appear on Gao´s torso, despite the fact that he clearly dodged his attack.

"What did you do? There is no way you could have reached me," demanded Gao angrily with his usual demanding voice, although it was clear that he was confused just as most of the crowd.

Naruto only grinned slightly in response, obviously amused by the question, a mocking undertone present in his usually calm voice.

He was not one to usually make others look bad on purpose, but against someone who kept doing things like that on a regular basis, well, no one said that the rule did not have exceptions.

"You would be right Gao, I was not the one who hit you, yet here you are. Taronsuto (Talon Strike) is something I developed on my own, but you have the honor of being my very first live target, isn´t that fortunate," asked the blonde, his words only serving to anger the other male more and more with each second.

"What? You will not get lucky like that again!" shouted Gao the Lesser and charged forward, in his rage not seeing Naruto´s victorious smirk.

He had played into his hands and did not even know it. He had no intention of getting dragged into a potentially exhausting fight when all he needed to do was to make his enemy angry and let down his guard.

Blocking a vicious kick at his head, the blonde suddenly swept his leg underneath Gao´s own, which would normally result in the dark-haired male to tumble backwards, but he was not finished.

Taking full advantage of the split second when Gao was distracted, he made a vicious palm thrust with his right hand, using as much physical power as he could muster and thus sending his opponent flying backwards….and straight into one of the wooden beams around the ring.

As he hoped, Gao the Lesser slumped to the ground unconscious, his head banged up by the collision with the hard wood. Unlike his enemy, Naruto always included his surroundings when fighting, a fact that worked out well for him.

"And that would by my To ga kuzure (Crumbling Tower). Feel free to come back for more Gao."

The match was called soon enough, no sense in continuing when one of the fighters was unconscious after all. Master Li and later Dawn Star as well congratulated the blonde on his swift victory, not that they expected any other outcome.

But more importantly, the way to the spirit cave was clear at last, so after getting a good night´s rest, Naruto would be all clear to go. However, before he retired for the evening, the blonde made sure to question his teacher rather thoroughly about knowing any style that involved elemental attacks.

If some ghost could do it, he sure as hell could too, something he made sure to point out. While not looking convinced, Sun Li gave a scroll with a set of instructions that covered the first tiers of the style, aptly named Dire Flame, saying that although it was a bit too early, if he could decipher and understand the information contained therein, then he could keep it.

That was a challenge if Naruto ever heard one, but since when did he not take a gamble? Learning the Rasengan back home in merely a week was hard work and a race against time, yet he did it nonetheless.

Making sure that the scroll was hidden with the few other things he owned, Naruto drifted off to sleep; knowing that tomorrow would finally get things into motion. If only he knew how right he was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Feeling relaxed, Naruto finished packing up his things and tied Sǐwáng to the back of his vest, not willing to leave it behind anymore when it might be needed.

From what was hinted the little trip could actually take some time, so just to be sure, he took his meager possessions with him just in case. Since he owned only a little, it hardly presented a problem at all.

Arriving at his teacher´s study, he was honestly surprised to see Dawn Star there as well, apparently in the same boat as him, packed and ready to move out. What was the meaning of this?

"Hi Dawn Star, morning master, you wanted to see me before I go?"

Truth be told, he personally did not_ know_ where the cave was, but this sounded much better than asking for the way wasn´t it?

"Excellent timing my student, I hope you are ready for the trial ahead. I took the liberty of asking Dawn Star if she would like to aid you on this little journey and she agreed. Her talents might prove useful in this task."

Naruto narrowed his eyes a bit at that but otherwise kept his cool, his thoughts going miles per second. Not that he wasn´t happy with the girl going with him, on the contrary, but it was not like Li to change things so quickly.

And what was that about a journey, just yesterday he was assured that it would take only a short while, a day at best, yet the master made it sound like that was no longer the case. Just what did the old man know that he didn´t?

Keeping his doubts to himself, he only smiled to the girl and nodded, displaying none of the suspicion he had. Was this another of Li´s secrets? Or was it another a test for which he had not yet found the answer?

While he was grateful to the old man, that alone did not mean that he did not suspect him of hiding something, even more so considering just how many secrets that man seemed to have.

With some surprise, Naruto watched as his aged teacher reveal a hidden tunnel just behind a bookcase, explaining that the cave was here beneath the school itself.

Shaking his head at the growing absurdity of it all, the blonde just took it in stride and entered, followed closely by Dawn Star herself. Closing the secret entrance behind them, Sun Li walked out and looked at the sky, noticing several black dots coming their way.

So the enemy had come at last. It was earlier than he expected, but at least he got those two to be away from what was coming, he could not afford to have them killed here. The future of the empire depended on them, even if they were not yet aware of it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Walking down the tunnel, Naruto could almost swear that he heard something coming from the direction of the surface, but he could not be certain. Should he return and see if everything was all right or continue?

This was a pretty serious mission, but at the same time he could not shake off the feeling that something was happening.

"Is something the matter? You have been quiet for some time now," inquired Dawn Star, torch in hand.

"It´s just….I have a bad feeling about all this," replied the blonde, although he could see that his answer only made the girl frown in worry.

"I don´t like it when you say that, every time you have a premonition like that things tend to get horribly wrong."

"Is it really that bad?" question Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"Remember two years ago? You saw the crops burning before it actually happened, same goes for the flood last year," replied the girl with a dry look, obviously not liking where this was heading.

"If you say so. Just let me ask: Did Master Li really ask you to come with me?"

Suddenly finding her toes very interesting, Dawn Star had an embarrassed look on her face.

"Well….sort of. When I heard that you were being sent away I worried so I came asking about it and in the end master asked me if I would like to join you."

"I´m glad that you agreed, it´s good to have someone I trust watching my back. Come on, let´s get this over with," smiled Naruto, his worries temporarily forgotten.

Had he lingered a bit longer, he would have noticed the slight blush on her cheeks before it was once again replaced by a serious expression.

The two of them continued downwards, ignorant of the situation happening on the surface.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Two Rivers was burning. Not a single building was spared, unlike the recent incident. Amidst the shadows, numerous figures were moving with frightening speed, more like shadows than humans.

Truly, doom itself had come to the small town and the nearby school was hardly an exception. Bound by enough chains to hold even an elephant in place, Sun Li watched as everything was being reduced to cinders and everyone getting slaughtered left and right.

He knew that this was bound to happen, the lotus assassins were feared throughout the empire for a reason after all, even more so their leader, who was standing nearby and watched as his minions systematically destroyed and killed everything in their way.

He was a tall and rather intimidating man, with a similar dark armor to those of the other assassins, only his obviously of higher quality. His frightening appearance was only reinforced by the demonic looking helmet that concealed his face, leaving nothing from his body to be seen.

This was Death´s Hand, the single most feared person in the entire empire, right hand of the emperor and leader of the lotus assassins, his grim visage being the face of the law across Jade Empire. Some even feared that his reach extended to the emperor himself, although most hoped those were merely rumors.

Just standing near him would be enough to send weaker men to their knees, trembling and begging for their lives without him doing anything at all.

Standing unmoving and silent like the personification of death itself, the masked warrior watched as his subordinates were destroying any traces of life within the village, there had to be no witnesses to this specific mission.

"My lord, we have searched the entire settlement but found no trace of the amulet itself," reported a woman in a red dress and a blank white mask covering her face, indicating high standing among the assassins if she could speak to their leader so directly.

Glancing towards his prisoner, Death´s Hand let nothing on to indicate what he was thinking, but this was obviously not the news he wanted to hear.

Things were already strange enough when the traitorous Sun sibling surrendered himself without a fight at all, something that came as a surprise to the shadowy warrior.

"Tear the place apart if you have to, but that amulet must be found. I am taking Sun Li to the capital myself," spoke the man, his voice carrying an undeniable air of authority and power.

Bowing low, the woman barked a series of orders to the other assassins, leaving her leader alone to watch the carnage around him, all the while being perfectly still and silent, like the avatar of death many thought he was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Looks like this is it."

It seemed that they were almost at their destination, since the tunnel ended, a single massive piece of rock blocking the way. However, on a closer look, one could notice that there were symbols carved in the stone, entire sentences even, so maybe it was not a dead-end as Naruto initially feared.

"Can you read what is inscribed there," asked Dawn Star, curiosity in her voice.

"No problem with that, it´s all in a surprisingly good shape. I wonder when this was done, because it looks quite preserved but obviously no one has been here for years, know what I mean?"

"I do, but perhaps the explanation will show itself as we look it over?"

Not seeing anything wrong with that, the blonde nodded and leaned over, his fingers idly tracing the carvings in the stone.

_Spirits go mad over time as they are denied passage to the underworld. Even defeating them is but a temporary solution, as they will disperse and lose the ability to reform for a time. _

_You are tied to the reason why the dead no longer sleep, more than you imagine. Your people were guardians of the spirit world and now none remain. Some of these lost souls were imprisoned in the cave before you, drawn to your amulet, your memento as the last of the spirit monks._

_The amulet ahead will help you in your task, but you must be careful, for many who seek the power beyond the mortal realm covet its power, always remain on your guard._

_I make no apologies for these trials my student, you will come to understand how important they are._

"Well that was interesting, but how are we supposed to get through. Unless…."

His hand once again in the bluish aura of Chi, Naruto touched the stone, only for it to crumble into small pieces, almost as if it was never there in the first place.

For once his guess had been correct, there was some type of barrier that could only react to certain people, although he did not know whether it was keyed to him specifically or to anyone who was a spirit monk in general. Not that it made a difference, the road was clear.

What lied in front of them was indeed a cave, with what seemed like a small stone altar at its center. However, before he could enter, Dawn Star gripped his hand, alarm evident on her face.

"Wait, I sense several spirits ahead, like those we faced on the beach."

Then, as she slowly realized what she was doing, she pulled back, not that the blonde minded her touch. But there would be a time for that later, preferably not in an underground cave with bloodthirsty ghosts as company.

"How many are there, can you tell?"

"I can detect five of them, they seem to be attracted to that altar but something seems to hold them back."

Knowing that for once they might get the moment of surprise, Naruto idly pondered upon using the spear on his back, but considering its abilities, it was better to reserve it for live opponents. After all, a living being could not survive having its heart pierced, those things however were not alive anymore.

If only he knew that this would happen, then he could have had a set of blessed markings on Sǐwáng like Dawn Star had on her sword, but no such luck. At least Chi seemed to work quite well, otherwise things would have been desperate.

"Dawn Star, stay in the shadows and support me when you see an opening, can you do that?" asked the blonde youth in a whisper, since apparently they were not yet detected and he wanted to make sure it stayed that way until they were on the move.

"Of course, leave it to me. Good luck."

Naruto smiled a bit, somehow finding the whole situation funny. Honestly, when he was younger, ghosts and the like used to scare the shit out of him and now he was about to engage five of those things as if it was completely normal. If that was not a sing that things changed then what was?

"Naturally. Let´s go!"

Five ghosts later, the pair was standing in front of the altar, noticing something metallic on it. Looking closer, Naruto recognized a small golden medallion in the shape of a dragon´s head, a string attached to it.

Was this the item he was here for? It did not look like much on first glance, but there was something odd about it nonetheless. Reaching for it, Naruto´s world suddenly went dark and he found himself collapsing on the hard floor.

After a few moments, his eyes started to open again, mostly upon hearing something he did not register before. A woman´s voice called out to him, but it was not Dawn Star as he initially believed.

No, this was someone else, no matter that he was absolutely certain that no one else was there with them. Honestly, he made some blunders in those past few years and his skills as a ninja got perhaps a bit rusty, but hardly enough for him to miss someone hidden anywhere near him, which drew only one possible conclusion.

Someone appeared in the room out of nowhere without leaving any trace of their presence beforehand, which did little to calm him down. Getting up, he noticed that several things were different about the place he was in.

It was still a cave of sorts, but no Dawn Star, no altar and the medallion was now hanging from his neck, much like the Shodaime´s necklace used to in his previous incarnation. Honestly, weren´t the few past days crazy enough?

That was when he felt someone, this time for real, behind him, so he quickly turned to meet the newcomer face to face.

To say that this woman had a rather strange appearance was an understatement. While she appeared human, only a fool would mistake her as such. Aside from her face, everything on her, be it the formal dress, the hair or the body itself seemed to be made out of pure, flowing water that was forced to maintain a specific shape.

But it was the face that seemed to stick out the most, since it was pure white in color, like freshly fallen snow, her golden eyes only further drawing attention to her image. Before he could ask anything, the apparition spoke first, her voice seemingly coming from everywhere.

_**"My power is stretched thin….bled away…..and you are too small, too mortal to truly understand. But small things can move beneath the notice of others. Your master hopes that you grow strong while he leads the predators away, but his reasons for doing so are clouded. It is up to you to find the way in the fog. You are one that acts, you are the spirit monk, and you are the last."**_

Only his refined self-control gained over the years prevented Naruto from mouthing the spirit off, knowing that doing so would not help anything, but it was oh so tempting, given how he was dismissed like he was something insignificant.

He could not detect any malice in the way it said it, as if the being truly believed that he was so small compared to it. To someone like him, who dreamed of being acknowledged and becoming the very best ever since he was little (twice now actually), this was the worst possible insult thrown in his face, even if the spirit did not see it that way.

Schooling his features, he tried to keep a civil tone, hoping to gain some information from this meeting. Although he had no way of knowing who this apparition was, he had a fleeting suspicion in his gut.

Even if it was supposed to be dead, he better than anyone knew that such a thing did not always keep impede those who were stubborn enough to resist it. And who better escape death than the goddess that governed the dead after all.

"Are you the spirit of the Water Dragon?"

Most people would miss it, the slightest widening of the spirit´s eyes at the question, but he was not most people. However, the answer it gave was not one he was expecting.

_**"I do not have the strength to answer, I am cut open and the way to the underworld is shut. Spirits are lost with no shepherds, no guardians. You must restore this. Your amulet is a focus; it will show you the way."**_

As Shikamaru would have put it, this was quickly becoming troublesome. First this damn thing tells him that he is so small and now it expects him to somehow miraculously fix the world, how messed up was that?

"That was not the answer I am looking for," replied Naruto, becoming tired with how the spirit was dodging the question.

_**"I can say no more…..I must fade. Pity those spirits that have gone twisted. Pity the world if you fail spirit monk, for you are the last."**_

And with that, the apparition disappeared once again, leaving no trace that it was there at all. Blinking, Naruto found himself back in the original cave with a clearly concerned Dawn Star standing over him.

"Are you all right? I felt something suddenly appear here with us, but I could not tell what it was. And then you fell to the ground all of a sudden."

"I´m fine don´t worry. I just had an unpleasant talk with another ghost that´s all. Anyway, since we got what we came here for, let´s get out of here. I think we stayed here long enough."

Getting up, Naruto suddenly had to brace himself when a small but noticeable tremor shook the earth, pieces of stone raining down from the ceiling, although thankfully none were large or sharp enough to cause serious damage.

However, just a moment later, the stone walls around the entrance tunnel seemed to have gained a life on their own, slamming shut together like the exit was never there in the first place.

"What is going on? I could make out Chi being used just a second ago," thought the girl aloud, hints of panic clear in her voice, not that he could blame her for it.

Walking forward to make sure that it was not merely an illusion, the blonde could clearly feel the solid rock under his touch, so unless it was a truly strong Genjutsu or the like, this way was a no go.

So someone wanted to trap them down here? That was the only plausible explanation he could think off, but who and for what purpose. More importantly, was there another way out?

To his surprise, the dragon amulet was shining a little, almost as if trying to tell him something. Raising an eyebrow, he tried to move it in different direction, curious if it would react.

It was not like he had much to lose anyway, but curiously enough, when he moved in a certain direction, the amulet would shine a bit brighter, almost as if telling him to go that way. Strange, but he was willing to take that chance.

Motioning for Dawn Star to follow, he was relieved that she was able to keep her cool, for the most part at least.

After a bit of searching he found the spot where the amulet shined the most and once again he was surprised at the way the surrounding darkness parted to reveal another tunnel, this one leading further into the deeps.

Not seeing any choice with the way back shut and all, the two of them continued forward, the amulet providing enough light to keep them going even if the torch were to be extinguished.

However, the Kyuubi chose this particular moment to share a piece of its mind.

_**"Naruto, there is something you should know now that there are no spirits around. I did not want to risk revealing myself before, but it´s vital you hear me out."**_

Setting his body on autopilot, the blonde turned inward, curious as to what his partner wanted to say. Only a few times did the fox sounded so deadly serious and virtually none of those times it was in this world, so it should be important.

_´What is it Kyu? Something on your mind?´_

_**"Indeed. Watch out for that watery spirit from before, the last time I felt an aura like hers, it did not turn out well for me. Neither did it for you as well in fact."**_

_´When would that be?´_

_**"The night when that thrice accursed Shinigami sealed me in your gut. I don´t know how, but that woman has the same aura he had."**_

That almost caused Naruto to stumble before he gathered himself together. There were still many things he did not know or understand about the existence of parallel universes and the nature of the whole thing, but did this mean that there was a connection between the god of death from his home world and this specific apparition?

If so, did the spirit suspect or perhaps even knew of his true origins? If it truly was the Water Dragon as he suspected, then it could be able to see through his new body, a fact that made him rather uncomfortable.

_´Well…damn.´_

However, he had no time to think about this sudden revelation, as the tunnel ended and he finally got a better look at where they ended up.

For the first few seconds, he was not sure whether to curse up a storm or go back and try to pommel the rocks until they gave way, but as neither would prove helpful, he only gritted his teeth and carefully stepped forward, somehow getting the feeling that the one responsible for their imprisonment down here was nearby.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**And as such, chapter two is ended. Now to clear a few things, allow me an explanation. Gao the Lesser did appear in the game and if anything, I seriously downplayed his arrogance and temper, hence his quick defeat.**

**As for the dialogue with the supposed Water Dragon, that was one of the few sections that are for the most part true to the original. Honestly, first the player is dismissed in a way that basically describes him/her as utterly unimportant and then you are asked/demanded to fix the world, excuse me if I say that with an attitude like that it is really hard to do the spirit any favors.**

**If any are curious about the true abilities of Sǐwáng, I will try to post those on my profile in a few days (unless I forget of course).**

**Right, that´s probably the end of my little rant so see you next time and remember that reviews are always appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

_´Why does it have to be another cave of all things? I´m really starting to hate this place and it´s been only what, an hour? Two at max.´_

Yes, Uzumaki Naruto was not feeling happy at the moment, not in the least. But then again, being trapped in underground without a way out is not really the best way to improve your mood, not at all.

Staring into another underground chamber, the blonde had to admit that something about the room made him uncomfortable, like he was being watched by someone, yet the only one there with him was Dawn Star and since she did not seem to detect anything, then either it was just his own paranoia or there was someone who could escape her acute sensing abilities, neither being very comforting to say the least.

Looking around, he could not help but notice several things about the room that stood out, such as the the supporting pillars and the overall good shape of the place, which meant that it was once used, although that was a very long time ago if he were to guess.

However, his musings were cut short when his companion gasped, her attention focused on the far end of the room. Looking at what seemed to hold her attention, he had to whistle a bit when he saw an old dried up corpse sprawled in one of the corners, its skull turned sideways in an unnatural angle.

It would not take a genius to deduce that someone had snapped the poor bastard´s neck, hell even he had done it a few times back home when the situation called for it so this was nothing new for him.

Dawn Star on the other hand did not seem to like the sight one bit, in truth looking a bit terrified for reasons he could only speculate about. It was one thing to cut down an enemy who wanted to kill you in the middle of a battle, but it was entirely another to watch a victim of a murder done in cold blood.

Squeezing her shoulder reassuringly, Naruto moved a bit closer, curious as to what a corpse was doing down here and not so secretly hoping that it might give some clue whether there was another exit or not. However, his examination was cut short before it could even begin.

"A student…..here? I had forgotten the stench of the living a long time ago," rasped a voice, making both of them abruptly turn towards the center of the room.

A figure ghostly emerged from the ground, effortlessly rising up from the stone like it was a second nature to him, a feat he had seen more than once with experienced Doton (earth element) users back in the Elemental Nations.

Again, he wished that he was taught at least the basics of what elemental styles around here could do, since in this way he felt a bit lacking when meeting an opponent who could move through solid earth or throw fire while he could not.

Not to say that his overall training did not have any uses, far from it in fact, but all of those things were close combat oriented only, thus limiting his option when faced against enemies who did not share the same problem.

Looking closer at the figure, his eyes analyzed the new arrival, ready to attack or defend at a moment´s notice. This was no ordinary maddened ghost like the others before, not only was he able to speak, but the way he carried himself was carefully measured, nothing like the mindless spectres from before.

I terms of appearance, he was an elderly man, even older than Li if he had to guess, given his long white hair and a cultivated beard of the same color, the formal robes on his semi-transparent body only reinforcing the aged image.

However, the grace and swiftness in his slightest of movements hinted at how deceptive such a perception could be. Surprisingly, among the two of them, it was Dawn Star who spoke up first, although her voice was shaking a bit.

"Is this…..Master Shen Zu? I heard he was the teacher at the school before master Li arrived here but he vanished and no one really knew what happened to him."

Come to think of it, she had a point. The man who was the previous teacher and master of their school had a statue of his likeness just past the school gates and upon looking closer he had to admit that it was a pretty good match.

Upon hearing the name the spirit tensed, as if reminded of something truly unpleasant, before finally giving his reply.

"That title….brings back memories. But I lost my right to it when that despicable man betrayed me and left me here to rot, claiming what I ruled for so long."

If nothing else, then it seemed that they found out what happened to the past leader of their school, but Naruto did not like the revelation one bit. Was it implying what he thought it did?

"And who was this person? Who was it that killed you," insisted Naruto, but he did not receive an answer in response.

The spirit of Shen Zu was no longer even looking at them, staring blankly into space, almost as if searching for something he could not see, continuing its monologue.

"Imprisoned in the darkness for all those years, denied a way to the underworld, he will pay dearly for this. But you….I will make you understand the frustration of dying and having nowhere to go, an eternal stalemate with no escape," roared the ancient master, his eyes gaining a maniacal look that resembled those of the other maddened souls.

Springing forward with surprising speed, Naruto barely blocked the first strike heading for him, only to grunt in pain. Despite his obvious age, the man (or what once was a man) had incredible strength in his undead body, forcing the blonde to dodge and evade his strikes.

However, even with all his training, he was overwhelmed momentarily and a powerful kick sent flying into the wall, creating a spider web of cracks upon impact.

Seeing her friend in danger, Dawn Star swiftly engaged the former school master, her quick sword slashes forcing the spirit to divert all of its attention towards her.

Wiping the blood from his lips, Naruto got up, just in time to see the black haired girl straining to keep the undead spirit at bay, given its restless attacks and deceptive speed.

Not one to stay down for the count, he tried to attack from a blind spot, only for the spirit to dodge his attempt in a display of agility unbecoming of such an elderly looking form. He could see why the old man was once a teacher, his skills were undeniable.

Backing away, the two of them were somewhat relieved that the spirit shifted into a defensive posture, almost as if waiting for them to make the first move. That is, until they felt the ground shifting beneath their very feet ever so slightly.

By a combination of luck and fighting instinct, the two of them evaded several earth spikes that erupted from beneath them, poised to impale them. But the crazed master was far from finished, raising both of his hands upwards.

Numerous pieces of earth and stones surged through the air with frightening haste, forcing Naruto and Dawn Star to cover behind some of the support pillars, which thankfully shielded them from most of the blast.

_´Damn it, this guy just keeps throwing us around so easily. Will I be forced to use the demonic power after all? No, not yet, I refuse to show my trump card so easily,´_ snarled the blonde in his thoughts, not really wanting to risk blowing his cover identity over a single enemy.

_**´Heh, go ahead and try brat, show me that you can push through this without my help and just maybe I will admit that you can accomplish something on your own,´**_ whispered the fox, knowing that even if its host was admittedly strong by common mortal standards in these lands, it was still a far cry from the power he had back in his first life.

But then again, he lost a good deal of power as well, although in comparison the boy lost much more of his abilities than he did. Naruto, unaware of his tenant´s thoughts, struggled in thinking how to win against the undead spectre.

Glancing towards Dawn Star, an idea formed in his head, ironically inspired by his early years as a ninja of Konoha.

No matter how much he hated how his former village was obsessed with teamwork (even more so considering who his ex-teammates were) to the point of having it as a part of their life philosophy, there was an advantage in numbers that he could not deny, especially since this world did not seem to have any sort of cloning technique or style.

Quickly motioning the girl to look over his direction, he was relieved when she did so. The years they grew up together made it easier when it came to nonverbal communication, since they could understand what the other was trying to convey without the need for actual words.

They were not siblings, far from it, but there was a level of understanding between them that came pretty close to that, even if took a very close observation to notice it.

Signaling his idea, he could only hope that she understood what he was trying to tell her, otherwise things might not turn out well for either of them.

Reaching for the spear, he found it strangely ironic that the weapon that was made against the living would now be wielded against someone long since dead.

He did not want to use it before, since the curse it carried was not even close to being powerful against undead and purely spiritual entities as it was when faced with a weak mortal body, but if he were to strengthen it with a bit of his Chi, it should do the trick and do some damage regardless.

Then there was also the longer reach that would definitively be helpful, since the ghost had already proven that getting too close would only get him injured or worse.

With a slight pulse of his energy, the cloth around the weapon fell apart, revealing the ancient weapon. While it held the basic shape of a long spear, one would have to be blind to mistake it for a simple instrument of war.

Aside from the dull metal end of the spear, the entire thing was deep red in color, stained by the blood from the countless battles it had seen, or so the legend insisted at least. If it was really true he did not know (nor did he actually care much), but it certainly had a unique look to it, further enhanced by the symbols carved into the blade that from time to time seemed to pulse with energy of their own.

Dashing out of his hideout, he deflected the barrage of stones and went on the offensive, using fast but deadly strikes to push the aged master backwards, not giving him the chance to recover while at the same time moving him where he wanted him to be.

Moving undisturbed through the shadows, Dawn Star gripped her Jian tightly, moving to a suitable position to attack, her heart racing.

Never did she imagine herself to get in a situation like this, but that did not mean that she was regretting her decision to follow her friend, far from it. But why was that feeling of dread she was feeling for a while now?

It had positively nothing to do with the undead spirit they were facing, although its identity was a bit of a shock as well. Just what was happening that had her senses stirring so badly?

There would be a time for that later though, right now she had to make sure that her sole friend was not risking his life for nothing.

Waiting for her chance, she stayed out of the way, knowing that her chance would come.

Now! Just as the spectre was pushed towards her, she took the chance and slashed at it with all her might.

Staggered by the unexpected attack, the spirit of the old master could only watch as the blade of the spear continued forward uninterrupted, burying itself in his chest, the combined damage too much for the ghost to take.

Falling to his knees, the soul that once bore the name Shen Zu lost the maddened look on its face, as if a veil was lifted from its sight.

"Im…Impressive. It seems that my school produced some fine students even with me gone."

"What really happened down here? It is obvious someone killed you down here, who was it?" questioned Naruto, cautiously approaching the fading spirit.

"You will find out soon enough. Be careful who you trust young one, or you will be betrayed just as I once was. Now go. With my second demise, the way to the surface is opened."

Indeed, just as the soul finished speaking, the ground shook once again and a second tunnel appeared, heading somewhere upwards.

"A last bit of advice you two. Do not return to Two Rivers…only death…..awaits you there."

And with a relieved sigh, the spirit vanished completely, the grudge that held it imprisoned underground dispersed with his defeat.

But things were not going to be so easy for the pair just yet. Pieces of the ceiling started rain down upon them, the entire cave apparently going unstable without its occupant.

Seeing as the entrance tunnel was quickly getting buried under falling stones, the blonde quickly grabbed Dawn Star and made for the exit, not really willing to push his luck any further today.

Behind him, he could hear rather than see the way caving in behind him, effectively cutting off any means of return. Making haste, the duo breather in relief as they reached the end of the passage, the view on the warm afternoon sun was indeed beautiful beyond words.

Looking around, Naruto deduced that they were probably amidst the forest covered hills north of their village.

However, the parting words the past master of his school shared with them kept going on in his head ominously and he had to wonder what it was the ghost knew and he did not. More importantly, who murdered the previous school master?

From what was said, the only suitable suspect was Li himself, no matter how he wished otherwise, but why? The thought that he would have to question his father figure for suspicion of murder was not an easy pill to swallow no matter how logic tried to dress it up.

That was when they saw the smoke. As he feared, it was coming from the direction of Two Rivers, meaning that something big happened during their absence. Was this what the spirit´s cryptic message was hinting at?

And more importantly, should they even try to get closer, especially after being warned in such a way?

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alas, while he could think ahead even under dire circumstances, Dawn Star could not. It made sense, unlike Naruto, she was largely untouched by violence and never experienced bloodshed on a large scale as he did.

Although he did not like rushing ahead into potential danger, the blonde followed her, out of personal concern more than anything. Ready for another battle, the two entered the village, only to find that they were too late.

Whatever happened here, they just missed it. Corpses were lying about, sprawled where their killers left them; buildings were wrecked and burned to the ground. It was a familiar sight that Naruto did not want to see again, yet here it was for all to see, in his own home no less.

Gritting his teeth in silent fury, Naruto could only curse under his breath that he was not there when it happened. It was like the Elemental Nations all over again: His home destroyed and he could do nothing about it. It was maddening!

No, corrected the blonde himself, there was something he could do here. He would find whoever was responsible and make them answer for all this, no way he would let this go without some retribution on his part.

Examining the scene, he could not help but notice that whoever was responsible for this was definitively not alone and they definitively knew what they were doing, since there were no survivors he could see.

No simple thugs or bandits would be this quick and efficient, this was a clean work done by people who were trained or perhaps even bred to kill and slaughter without mercy and without hesitation. In a sick way, this felt way too familiar, mainly because long ago he almost became just like that.

If someone were to ask him about it, then he would give no apologies or excuses, because at the time that was the only way he knew how to live, how he _could_ live.

Ironically, the being most responsible for keeping him sane was the demon sealed in his gut, mostly because it (or he, you never really knew with the fox) was in his company every moment, even if it was enforced by the seal that linked their souls together.

Now while the centuries old Kyuubi welcomed destruction whenever an opportunity presented itself, it was not a fan of wild, uncontrolled lunatics, one of the reasons why it never got along with Shukaku too much, so it made sure that its host would not go too far over the edge.

Nonetheless, even if he was more than adept at keeping his cool thanks in part to the training received in this world, Naruto already knew that the sight of the dead would no longer evoke any emotion in him, not when he had seen and dealt death firsthand so many times.

Meanwhile, Dawn Star desperately searched through the bodies, trying against all hope to find even a single person alive, but to no avail. One might as well try to search for a needle in a haystack and get better results, or so it appeared at least.

Deciding that further searching would only make this worse for her, since she was in tears and obviously distressed, he scooped her up and held her close, letting her sob softly into his chest.

Not that he could blame her, the first time he saw a whole town slaughtered he had an even worse reaction than she had at this very moment. Plus this place was their home for almost twenty years after all.

"I´m sorry….it´s just….."

Placing a finger over her slightly trembling lips, the blonde only shook his head at her, silently telling her that there was no need to say anything further. He understood and she could vent it out as much as was needed.

After a while, Dawn Star calmed down, although the sight that surrounded them was still making her uneasy, not that it came as any surprise.

"What happened here? Who could have done all this?"

_´Good question,´_ thought Naruto, being rather curious about that as well.

Something like this did not happen at random, which could only mean that the culprit behind this came here for a specific reason. But what could that be? Who or what was their target here?

"I believe I can answer that," came a voice from behind them, making the two almost jump in alarm.

In a split second, the blonde was turned towards the source of that voice, spear poised to strike at any given time. How did he miss that someone was there the whole time?

Did the destruction of his home bother him more than he was willing to admit? Did he lower his guard when faced with all the dead that surrounded them, believing that he was safe, or was this newcomer so good at hiding that he never noticed him? Which option could it be?

Stepping from behind a ruined building, a young man, definitively older than Dawn Star but not terribly so if he had to guess, stepped forward.

But there was nothing young about him whatsoever, from the numerous scars that littered his torso (and one very nasty in particular stretched across his entire cheek to his chin) to way he held himself and most of all, the way he looked at the world around him.

This was no simple man, he was a warrior and a survivor that lived through things that would shatter lesser minds and send them screaming in madness. That much Naruto could gleam by looking at him, some part of him recognizing that this human had gone through much in his life already.

Seeing them with weapons raised (although the admittedly beautiful young woman was still shaking a bit), he raised both his hands in a surrendering gesture, showing that he was unarmed.

"There is no need for weapons, I mean neither of you harm. I apologize for hiding, but when I heard you approach I had no way of knowing who you were. My name is Sagacious Zu, a traveling mercenary."

"Are we supposed to believe that you just showed up moments after all this just like that," asked Dawn Star in a clearly hostile voice, one that was very unlike her normally kind and soft spoken tone.

His expression unchanging as ever, the mercenary, if he truly was one, spoke in reply.

"I realize how this must seem to you, but right now I am the only one who knows what truly happened here. I am willing to share this information for an answer to a single question, if you are willing to hear me out."

Lowering his spear slightly, Naruto went over his options. He did not trust this guy, not in the slightest; his timing was too convenient for that. But at the same time, he claimed to know what transpired here and he did not seem to be lying about that.

Deciding to take the risk, the blonde motioned his companion to lower her sword a bit, something she seemed reluctant to do. If worst came to pass, then they would fight, but in his experience a willing witness was much better than one who was beaten to a pulp or threatened with death.

"Let´s hear it then, but you will understand if I will not blindly accept everything you say as truth."

"I expect nothing less."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If Zu was telling the truth, then he was quite lucky to be alive. From the way he told it, he was passing through the area when he saw the smoke rising from the village, but after coming closer he saw what was happening and hid himself to avoid detection.

It was there that Naruto found out what occurred while they were underground. To think that the infamous lotus assassins would appear in here of all places, it was quite a discovery, even more so when they apparently took master Li alive when everyone else was killed.

He had heard the stories of that shadowy order and needless to say, he was intrigued. Considering his past, it was natural that an order of assassins would draw his attention (he even intended to look into them to a greater detail when he would start with his travels), but he never imagined that his first encounter with them would be like this.

But then again, considering that Sun Li was the brother to the emperor himself, it was not that surprising. Although he honestly more expected that they would kill him as well, especially that he was a traitor to the empire. Why would they need him alive?

Then there was also the method of transport these assassins used, those strange flying contraptions Zu called flyers.

His only real experience with flying was with that big airship back in Snow Country, but considering that he managed to crash it into a mountain it really was not the best of his memories.

"So afterwards they burned everything down and left?"

"Indeed. This is how the lotus assassins usually operate; they kill anyone in their way just to fulfill their mission."

"You speak as if you are familiar with them," remarked Dawn Star, having overcome the brunt of the brutal sight around them, although anyone would notice that she was still quite shaken.

Giving her a glance, Sagacious Zu only shrugged a bit, as if not really concerned what she could possibly think of him.

"Believe it or not, this is hardly the first time something like this happened across the empire. In my travels I have seen quite a bit of the empire and this is nothing new when their kind is involved, although this is the first time they actually wiped out an entire village."

"So in other words this is more or less normal for them" summarized the blonde, getting a nod from the scarred male.

"Yes. This is one of the reasons why the assassins are so feared everywhere. But now I must ask: Who is this master Li exactly? The lotus assassins are not known to take prisoners, so he must be someone of great importance."

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto had to admit that Zu was quite a smart one, figuring out something like this so quickly. But even so, there was no way that he would just freely say aloud that his teacher was Sun Li, the man widely known as the glorious strategist.

So far, only he seemed to know that piece of information and for the moment he fully intended to keep it that way.

"Master Li is….was a martial arts teacher at the school here, both me and Dawn Star here were his students."

"A simple teacher somehow got the attention of the most feared order in the whole empire? No, there must be more to it than that," scoffed the warrior in disbelief.

"Why would you be so concerned about it, you said you were just passing through," accused Dawn Star, mentally exhausted more than she thought possible. In a single day, she lost almost everything that she was used to and it was definitively taking a toll on her.

"It merely picked my interest. But I thank you for the answer nonetheless," said Zu, although his tone made it rather clear that he did not believe the simple answer that was given to him.

Deciding to fish for information while there was still a chance, Naruto asked what was on his mind ever since they discovered that Li was alive.

"Say, if you know about them, would you have any guess as to where they might have taken him?"

Looking surprised at the sudden question, Zu nonetheless gave the answer he wanted to hear.

"It is no secret that the capital is the seat of their power, but I advise you against going after them. The only thing that could come from such a task is death."

"Well I guess it´s time to change that huh? Thanks for the information."

Not that he was that thrilled about chasing after his old master like this, but he had some questions that really needed answering and Sun Li held the answer, so he had to go, like it or not.

Naturally, Dawn Star was quick to follow, since he was the only one she got left and they really did not have a home to return to anymore. As soon as they would give the townsfolk a burial, they would leave this place.

It seemed like his journey was finally beginning, even if the reasons behind it were far different from what he intended in the first place. Even still, he could not wait to see what lied beyond the horizon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It took quite some time to bury all of the bodies, but with the offered help of Sagacious they had done it. Now, after they parted ways with the scarred mercenary, they were on their way south to Tien´s Landing, a town that lied on an important trade route that went from the north provinces to the capital city, their destination.

"Wait!"

Turning around, both Naruto and Dawn Star were surprised to see Zu running after them.

"I still think it is foolish to challenge the lotus assassins in their own real, but if you´re truly going after the lotus assassins, I would like to join you on this quest. I know the lands throughout the empire quite well from my travels so my aid could benefit you on this journey."

Seeing that Dawn Star was going to object, Naruto quickly cut in. Even if he did not try to harm them before, there was nothing wrong about being cautious. They knew next to nothing about this fellow and there was always the risk of him being a spy of some sort.

However, it was true that if he was true to his word, then having a guide would be quite helpful.

"And why would you want to come with us? What do you hope to gain from joining up with us?"

Lowering his head for a short moment, Zu seemed lost in his own world before looking back up, his face betraying nothing of his thoughts.

"Like you, I too had suffered at their hands, even if the reasons differ greatly from your own. For the last four years I had been on the run from them, trying to avoid them as best as I could. But after seeing them sink to such new lengths, it is clear that I cannot be on the run forever. Thus I would like to join your efforts, if you would have me."

Thinking his offer over in his head, the blonde considered the pros and cons that were present. On one hand, they would have someone who knew the terrain (or so he claimed at least) with them and it was obvious in the way he carried himself that he was a fighter who could hold his own.

But at the same time, it would mean traveling with a complete enigma and generally keeping an eye out. Could they afford to take that risk?

In the end, it was his willingness to take a gamble that tipped the scales in favor of accepting, since it would hardly be the first time he took a chance like this.

"Fine. Come with us if that´s what you want Zu, I will not stop you."

Nodding in gratefulness, the mercenary seemed strangely relieved at the turn of events, a fact that Naruto made a note to ask about later. As they continued on their journey south, Dawn Star sent him a questioning look that clearly said one thing:

_´I hope you know what you´re doing….´_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Miles away from the freshly formed trio, a large object was falling towards the earth below, slamming into it with great force. Then, after several moments, a large figure stood up from the crater, its shape concealed by the smoke. A growling, bestial voice spoke up.

**"So the time has come after all. One such as him cannot be content with his role in life it seems."**

"Are we going to look for him?" asked another voice, this one sounding human with a childish undertone to it.

**"Yes, we must take haste in our task. Uzumaki Naruto…..we will find you."**

XXXXXXXXXXX

**And so ends chapter three. Finally the story is starting to unravel, I honestly did not expect for the introduction part to take entire three chapters, but to get things moving, some of the events had to be explained or shown.**

**Anyway, see you all next time and remember that reviews are always appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4

Whether he should be relieved or disappointed, Naruto did not know, but so far the trip was uneventful, that one little bandit encounter the day before really did not count seeing how quickly they were disposed of.

Naturally, they helped themselves to the goods the outlaws stole over time (even if Dawn Star was a bit squeamish about it at first) and suffice to say, they had enough silver to not worry about any possible expenses for quite some time.

On another note, despite his expectations, so far Zu proved to be quite a reliable companion, even if his stoic personality was a tad boring at times. Not to say that he trusted the scarred man with his life or anything, but so far the mercenary had yet to make any suspicious move so he was willing to give him a chance.

With that being said, he could relax his mind a bit and think about what was next on the agenda. If anything, they needed a plan to infiltrate the lotus assassins and find Li, since barging in through the front door rarely proved to be advantageous.

First, he needed information about the enemy that they would be facing, how many of them were there, how strong they were and so on. Naturally, this task alone was hardly easy, since nobody seem to know much about them, not that it came as any surprise to him, being a former ninja and all.

Next was finding about the true capabilities of the spirit monk and what exactly their powers were. Ever since he found the amulet in the caves below their former school, he could feel it resonating with something from within himself, but unfortunately, his own knowledge on how to unlock and use spirit monk powers was sadly lacking, given that he became aware of his status only a short while ago.

And last but not least, the scroll containing instructions on the Dire Flame was beginning to seriously annoy him. While not the smartest of humans, he still prided himself on being a remarkably quick learner in both theoretical and practical aspects of almost anything thrown his way, but the scroll was either purposefully written in a way that only a few would understand it, or the author was seriously messed up in the head.

Knowing his teacher, it was probably the former, but for some reason that did not make him feel any better about it. Maybe he would have to consult his tenant about it? The fox was still recuperating from the damage done to his souls (as unlike him, it no longer even had a physical form so the damage was taking longer to heal, or so he said at least), but perhaps it could offer some insight regardless.

However, his train of thoughts when they finally climbed the last hill and saw Tien´s landing down below. It was quite the sight, with the nearby river and a massive forest covering the lands to the west, the picture of the town would make one hell of a postcard, but alas, this world was not in the era when such a thing would be possible.

A shame really, but he committed the sight to memory nonetheless.

"So this is Tien´s Landing? Quite the view," commented Dawn Star, sounding a bit impressed.

"Indeed, it is an important trade center for the northern provinces of the empire, although compared to the bigger cities down south it will seem like just another insignificant village," added Zu, ruining the mood a bit, although whether he was aware of it or not was hard to tell.

Chuckling at the pout the black-haired girl was making, Naruto noticed that a large metal contraption, one slightly reminiscent of a mosquito or a similar insect, rising from the outskirts of the town and leaving a trail of smoke behind as it flew towards the heavens and taking away at speeds that left him in awe.

It seemed that despite being in the feudal ages (or so he guessed at least), this world nonetheless had more in stock for him than he would have imagined.

"Was that a flyer? This would be my first time seeing one."

Nodding slightly in confirmation, Zu nonetheless seemed quite concerned about something.

"You are correct in that assumption, but it makes me worry. There are only a few groups with access to those flying machines and most of them would not be good news for us."

Seeing as he had their rapt attention, the mercenary elaborated.

"The first would be members of the emperor´s family and the nobles that rule over the respective provinces. Then there are several slaver and pirate groups that somehow managed to create a few of their own. But it´s the last ones who own those machines that might make things difficult…."

"The lotus assassins."

"Correct. If the flyer we just saw leaving belongs to them, then there is a definite possibility of their members still being in the area and that makes things dangerous."

Seeing Dawn Star tense at the name of the order that destroyed their home, the blonde thought that he would have to speak to her in private soon, otherwise who knows how things might turn out.

"Why exactly would they present a threat to us right now? As far as they should know, no one aside from Li survived Two Rivers and even if they did they never even saw either of us."

"That might be true, but the order has ways to break even the most strong-willed and if your master is aware of you surviving their efforts, then it is more a question of when they will become aware of it. And you are not the only ones they will be looking for, despite my efforts to evade them I made it on their wanted list as well."

Now this was a new piece of information, but honestly Naruto was sort of expecting something like this. From the way the assassins were depicted so far, the only one willing to go with him against them would be either a spy sent by them, or someone who was at odds with the order in the first place.

"What happened?"

"I…saved someone they wanted to murder in cold blood and in the process killed several of their members. They have been after my blood ever since," replied Zu with obvious hesitation, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.

Not seeing the need to push him into revealing more (for the moment at least), Naruto nodded in acceptance, knowing that a chance to discover more would show itself sooner or later.

"So in other words, we have to disguise ourselves before going any further?" inquired Dawn Star, finally joining the conversation.

Upon seeing Zu nod, Naruto could only groan. Oh how he missed the good old Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), just a small bit of chakra and you could instantly become anyone you could imagine, voice and all.

Fortunately, back home he made sure to know how to disguise himself when he could not depend upon chakra (a blessing when taking account his younger years), something that would surely come in handy now, but this would only be the second time he was actually in need of it and already it was something he was not looking forward to.

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As it turned out, there was no changing that fact that he would stand out no matter how he tried to improvise and completely obscuring his face was as good as wearing a giant sign with the word ´suspicious´ written all over it.

The most he could do was change his hair color with some effort (not that he was particularly happy about it) and a bit of dirt made him appear as if he was just another filthy wanderer, but there was no way he could hide his eyes, the likes that no one else in these lands had.

He let a few bangs of hair fall over his forehead to give his face some covering shadow at least, but anyone who would look close enough would notice the two pools of blue nonetheless.

Since the spear on his back was wrapped in a layer of cloth again (ever since Two Rivers), there was no worry about that, so all he had to do was to wait for both Zu and Dawn Star to finish their own adjustments.

At last, everyone was done and the trio made its way downhill, towards Tien´s landing.

A short time later, a massive shape stumbled onto the clearing where the trio rested moments ago, growling and sniffing the air, almost like a predator tracking its prey. Upon seeing the target already in the small city, it let out a frustrated howl, a part of it itching to follow and damn the consequences.

But it was quickly subdued by the more rational side, one that did not desire to involve those who were not involved with its hunt. Backing away for the time being, the being knew that it was only a matter of time before another chance would show itself.

Sooner or later, Uzumaki Naruto would emerge from the town and at that moment, his life would be forfeit.

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"Anyone getting the feeling that something is going on here," asked Naruto in a low voice, carefully watching the people around as they passed through.

**"Yet again you drag us both to some interesting places. The smell of fear that permeates the air like a fog, the scent of hidden terror those humans have all over them….just how I like it," **chuckled the fox through their mental connection, almost startling the blonde for a second.

As it seemed, the Kyuubi was more than aware of what was going on, taking advantage of their mutual connection to sense the world around them. Not that it was any news to the blonde haired Jinchuuriki, he was after all the one that allowed his tenant such a measure of freedom in the first place.

Still, it was a bit surprising to hear from the fox so soon, given how it was recuperating and sleeping most of the time. But he had to admit, his partner had a point.

While this was his first time here, he simply could not shake off the feeling that the way things looked at the moment was not normal. Everything was quiet, people passing through with their heads down and barely speaking at all; overall it was a bit unnerving.

"Maybe we were right and the lotus assassins are nearby. If so, try not to do anything rash," whispered Zu back, although he was probably addressing both of them, knowing their situation.

Other than gripping the handle of her sword for a moment, Dawn Star did not bother to reply. Oh how she wished to sink her blade into those people who destroyed her home and slaughtered everyone like animals, but she understood that they were not ready to fight them yet.

After all, saving master Li had priority so for now she would stay her hand.

Naruto merely nodded in response, aware that picking a fight with an enemy of unknown strength was just asking to get put down. The time to strike at them would come, that much he could tell already, but it was too early to say when would that be exactly.

But before too long, there was another thing that caught his attention. Someone was after them, following them through the streets with clear interest. He almost did not notice, but given his past with people sneaking upon him with ill intentions, it became much easier to spot things like that.

What bothered him was just how little time it took for them to be shadowed by someone, although there was no telling if it was just a pickpocket looking for easy picking or worse, if it was one of the lotus assassins. If it was the former, then it was of little consequence, if it was the latter, then they were in some serious trouble.

But how could they have attracted their attention already? Or perhaps the attention of their stalker was not on them but on someone with them?

Glancing towards Zu, he could clearly see that the scarred mercenary knew of their predicament, slightly nodding back in confirmation. If nothing else, then he was quite observant it seemed.

Dawn Star on the other hand seemed oblivious about their pursuer, since she was a fighter and did not have any real experience with this sort of thing, although he hoped that it would change in time, given how events were moving.

"We are being followed. Don´t turn back and keep walking like nothing is happening," whispered Naruto to the young woman, loud enough for Zu to hear him yet not loud enough to attract attention.

Seeing her stiffen but otherwise following their lead made it a little easier, but they really needed to either lose this irritating pursuer or at the very least find out whom he served.

"So what do we do about it?" asked Dawn Star, being a little nervous when facing such a situation for the first time in her life.

"We need to find out who he is after. You two go ahead, there should be a teahouse near the river port and I will meet you there," replied Zu, heading off before anyone could stop him.

_´Clever bastard. Either this will show who is the real target here….or he just got a perfect chance to inform whoever he could work for of our whereabouts.´_

Naruto could only hope that Zu really was not a double agent of any sort, because if he was then he just had the perfect opportunity to set them up.

Either way, they would have to wait and see. Followed by Dawn Star, the last Uzumaki could nonetheless feel a small grin tugging at his lips. Things were finally on the move again and he was starting to enjoy the change of pace.

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Walking down the alley with his face betraying nothing of his inner thoughts, Sagacious Zu finally stopped when he was sure that he was seemingly alone. Turning his head to the side, he only scoffed at the naïvety of the fool trying to follow him.

"Why don´t we stop the game of pretend already? Show yourself, I know you are there."

A deep, mocking laughter could be heard as a man stepped out from the shadows, his pale skin and sharpened teeth making a frightening spectacle to anyone who would see it.

"So you noticed already? As expected from you, no wonder they called you the prodigy…..until you decided to turn on us that is. Imagine my surprise when I saw the infamous traitor walking into the city and with some friends it seems. Has the years of running made you desperate for companions?" mocked the pale man with an obvious glee to his tone.

Fully turning towards him, Zu did not seem bothered by the question, but a closer look would reveal that his eyes gained a cold look that was not there before, one of anger and restrained but nonetheless murderous fury.

"So you truly are one of the lotus assassins as I suspected. But do not claim to understand me just because I once belonged to the order. As far as I´m concerned, you are an enemy that stands in my way, nothing more."

"That so? You talk big for someone who angered Death´s Hand himself. He put quite a prize on your head and there is no one in the order who would miss a chance to collect," laughed the assassin before dashing forward at high speeds, his movement too fast for an ordinary human to follow.

Unfortunately, his prey was no ordinary man either and moments before the unfortunate assassin could reach him, he leaned out of the way and in a display of speed evaded almost instantaneously, proving himself much faster than his enemy.

The assassin stumbled as he felt something hit him, and then turned towards Zu with an arrogant sneer.

"Looks like you are fast at running, how fitting for a disgrace like you."

"You are the one who is a disgrace, failing to realize that you are already done for."

"What are you….AAARGH," screamed the pale man in pain, blood seeping from his lips despite the lack of any evident wound on him.

Then he remembered something. What was it that the instructors said about the man in front of him? The one and only person among the order who mastered the Shi soma~tsu te (Untainted Hands of Death), a style that could paralyze, cripple or kill anyone from the inside out, not leaving any visible wounds on the victim.

A perfect killer, that´s what they called him and only now he understood that he badly underestimated his opponent and paid the ultimate price for it. With a soft thud, he fell to the ground, life quickly fading from his eyes.

Standing over his latest victim, Zu only sighed at the sight. No matter how far he ran or how much he hid, they always found him.

He got lucky this time as the one he killed was doubtlessly a rookie (an acolyte was the term the order used for cannon fodder), an easy fight that went in his favor, against someone higher up on the chain of command it would probably go much differently and against either the grand inquisitor or Death´s Hand himself he would fall in seconds, there was a reason the man was the emperor´s right hand after all.

But he did not want to think about them, it brought up memories too painful to think about. Instead, as he was leaving the scene, his mind drifted to his two companions, the first permanent company he had in some time.

Although they were both inexperienced with how things worked in the empire due to their cloistered life, they both seemed well-trained, especially the blonde one with the strange name.

On a first glance, his way of fighting seemed chaotic and made up of random moves and styles, but at the same time there seemed to be a method to the way he fought, the attacks flowing like water, swift and never the same for even a second.

It would be a nightmare for anyone to try to guard against such a tactic, not knowing what would come up next. Although that alone would not suffice against the higher echelons of his former order, should it be perfected it just might give him the edge needed to succeed even against his past brethren.

Whoever his teacher was, he clearly knew what he was doing, making such an unpredictable fighting machine. Naturally, he did not believe for a second that this master Li was merely another martial arts teacher, he knew all too well that taking live prisoners was a rare thing for the lotus assassins to do. While the girl seemed convinced, Naruto on the other hand seemed to know something more than that.

He did not mind. They had their secrets and he had his, one way or another he would find the answers and that was all there was to it. Glancing at the dead body that was slowly getting cold, he pushed it a bit further into the shadows to make finding it a bit more difficult and then quickly escaped the scene, not wanting to take any more chances.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

"So we lost him?"

"Depends on who you are asking about, we lost our little stalker all right, but Zu seemed to get lost on his own."

Dawn Star could not help but giggle a bit at that, looking at Naruto who was sipping his tea without a care in the world, or so it seemed at least. Still, she had to admit that the way he made light of things made this easier to handle and she was grateful for that.

No matter how long she knew him, it still surprised her when the blonde could be dead serious and a second later make fun of everything but never losing his composure.

It was one of the things she admired about her friend, his unflinching confidence and overall charisma were part of the reason almost everyone back at the school looked up to him and strived to be like him. It was quite inspiring to be honest.

However, despite knowing him for two decades, she could not claim that she understood him, not completely at least. For example, it was hard to tell what he was thinking at any given time, not that he was stoic like Zu or anything similar, but you could not depend on his facial expressions to reveal what was going on in his head.

But what worried her most was the occasional look of immense loss and sorrow her friend occasionally had in his eyes when he was deep in thought, as if he was remembering something too painful to forget.

She did not know what it was but it hurt to see her most precious friend suffer like that when she did not know how to help, especially when he was always there when she needed a shoulder to lean on.

For that alone, she would follow and try to aid him to the best of her ability, not because she had some obligation to do so, but because he was the one being that mattered to her above everyone else.

"Is something the matter Dawn Star?"

Startled by the sudden question from the very subject of her thoughts, the girl almost jumped in her seat before regaining her bearings.

"No, it´s fine. What was it you wanted to say?"

"Zu is back. Let´s see what he has to say."

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"So it really was a member of the lotus assassins then?"

"Indeed. A relatively unskilled one if I were to judge, but he belonged to the order nonetheless."

"So just to be informed, how do you recognize one of them? I somehow doubt they would say it out loud for everyone to hear."

"Trust me, they don´t have to. The fearsome reputation they managed to groom over the years works for them better than anything else. As for recognizing them, there are several things that tell everyone who they are.

Every one of them that I met so far wears a specific type of light armor on them, but some mercenary bands do that as well. Aside from that, there are a few things that you cannot miss when you meet one.

All of them have pale skin and a general lack of hair, probably a result of being underground for a prolonged amount of time. They also have sharpened teeth, more like animals than humans really."

In a moment of nostalgia, Naruto was reminded of the seven swordsmen of the mist, where a similar tradition was established for generations, although thankfully they only modified their teeth. Those were some tough bastards all right (if Zabuza, Raiga and Kisame were anything to go by, well maybe not Raiga since he was an asshole and not that strong on his own, but the other two counted) and he honestly hoped that the sharp teeth was the only similarity those two groups shared.

Dawn Star, oblivious of his true past seemed a bit concerned and asked a rather good question as well.

"So what are they doing here already, they must have a reason to being here and it´s not us right?"

"Actually," interrupted Naruto, "I might have an idea of what they are after and it looks like both I am going to have our first meeting with them sooner than expected."

Upon seeing Zu with a questioning look (he forgot to interrogate his opponent before killing him after all) and Dawn Star even more so, he continued.

"While you were dealing with our tail, I managed to overhear some of the villagers talking on our way here and even some patrons were talking a little while ago.

The way they said it, the lotus assassins showed up here almost two months ago, overruled the local noble with a recommendation from the emperor himself and basically have been bossing everyone around like they own the damn place. The only reason the people here did not up and leave is probably because the assassins fortified themselves somewhere westward, digging through some old ruins there."

If Sagacious Zu was not impressed before, he definitively was now if the look he sent him meant anything. Dawn Star on the other hand seemed amazed that he managed to get all that just from listening to others, but then again, she was just learning about living on the move so all this was probably a new world for her (so to speak).

"Do you know what they looking for in the ruins," inquired the scarred mercenary, more than a little curious about that. It had to be something big for them to come up this far north.

"Not really, it´s supposed to be a tomb of a deceased spirit monk of old. I´m not sure what they would want there, but if there´s something of importance there I´d like to have a look at it before they can ship it off."

"Why would a single dead monk matter so much?"

Pausing for a second, Naruto wondered whether he should reveal that he was a spirit monk or not, since only Dawn Star was told of his true origin (the one in this world at least), but only he alone knew the real identity of who was hiding behind the simple façade of the humble master Li and for both his companions to understand the story behind the whole affair, he would have to show this truth as well.

No matter how he looked at it, he could either tell them both what the facts were or try to talk his way out of it.

_´Fuck it, I have enough secrets already,´_ decided the blonde, sick of all the pretending over the years. It was a risky move to just spill out the beans like that, but he figured that some secrets are not as important as others.

Not only was he someone who remembered his previous life, he also contained a demon of tremendous power (even diminished it was still beyond anything else he knew), his second body belonged to a monastic order that helped govern the natural order of life and death, only to be massacred by the imperial army for defending their temple, and let´s not forget the man who saved him from such a fate and subsequently raised him as a fighter was a supposedly dead brother to the emperor.

While him being a reincarnated soul or being a demon container was still something he would keep close to the chest (would they possibly believe him even if he told them?), everything else was free game. Looking around to ensure that nobody was eavesdropping, Naruto got comfortable and started.

"I guess I will have to start at the beginning…."

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"So our little renegade is back. Are you certain of this?"

"Yes sir. He was last seen entering Tien´s Landing with two others, a man and a woman, both unknown."

This drew that attention of the first speaker, a man sitting in a meditative position. While his attire and pale features were similar to those of the other lotus assassins, what distinguished him from the others was the piece of cloth tied across his right eye.

"So little Zu has found friends has he? Most unlike him. Any idea where they came from?"

"Before his untimely death, our agent left a message that suggested they came from the north."

There was no such thing as coincidence, inquisitor Lim believed in that much. And hearing that the traitor to the order (one that he knew rather personally, given their history) was seen traveling with two people from the north mere days after the destruction of Two Rivers could not be purely accidental.

He knew what happened there, after all, it was he who received the letter informing of Sun Li´s location and promptly informed Death´s Hand of the news. And while he was aware that the capture of Sun Li went as planned, the other objective however did not.

It was common knowledge among the assassins that the head of the order himself was searching for a golden amulet in the shape of a dragon´s head, one that Sun Li stole from the emperor, or so the rumor went. He did not think much of it, it was not his place. The only thing he was concerned with was following his orders and that´s what he was going to do.

But if those three came from the north, then it was a possibility that the two unknown people seen with Sagacious could have been survivors (unlikely but not impossible) or at least could have knowledge where the amulet was. After all, he knew Zu and he would never travel in a group unless there was something that sparked his interest.

He would have to look into them soon and even if they would not provide the answer he was looking for, capturing the traitor would nonetheless get him a few points within the order nonetheless.

Dismissing his subordinate, he knew there was no need to go after them for now. Why rush after your prey when they would eventually come to his doorstep? The way further south was garrisoned by the imperial army so the only way was through air. And considering that he had the only safely means to travel in such a way in this entire sector; they would have to come to him.

All he needed to do was to prepare a fitting welcome…and then he would have his revenge for what that damnable fool did to his eye.

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Looking out the window, Naruto could see the sun setting down, further enhancing the beautiful sight of the town. However, the view was the last thing on his mind. He could not help but think back at what happened earlier.

Of course, he told them the whole story about him (the one that native to this world only anyway) and how things stood and needless to say, both were shocked to say the least.

Zu seemed in denial and heavily conflicted something, but as always, it was hard to tell what was on his mind, he really had a great poker face. After he finished, the mercenary wanted some time alone and left, saying he would be back.

Dawn Star on the other hand took it worse, even if she knew he was a spirit monk she did not know much about it in the first place and when he got to reveal who Li truly was, he was almost afraid he broke her if the face she made was anything to go by.

Seeing as nothing productive would come from the rest of the day, he booked them all rooms in a nearby inn and left to get some peace and quiet as well. He would check up on her soon, but at the moment he wanted a bit of time for himself as well.

Even if it might be a tad risky with the lotus assassins skulking in the region, so far they were not aware of his existence so there should be no problem all right with being alone for now. Setting down at a small clearing near the town, he placed his spear aside, closed his eyes and started to meditate.

A few seconds later, he opened them again, only to be greeted by a sight that would surprise anyone else but him.

Before him was the village of Konoha, or what used once was Konoha anyway. Now, everything was in ruins, vegetation growing throughout the place and the faces of the past Kage were long since eroded by time beyond recognition.

The only place that was pristine and untouched by time were the walls around the ruined city and the Hokage tower itself, the place containing everything vital to him. Standing up, Naruto found himself on the roof of the proud tower, looking at the ruins all around him.

He did not look surprised in the least, why should he be? After all, this was his mindscape, only fitting that it would take the shape of the place he wanted to rule over all those years ago, a perfect reminder of a failed ambition.

**"Nice to see you back brat, it was getting a bit boring in here and you hardly do anything worthwhile these days aside from training."**

Turning his head a bit, he saw the massive nine tailed fox lying in what used to be the merchant district, sending him a tired but nonetheless intimidating grin. Anyone else would be at least the bit afraid, but then again, he was not most people.

Jumping down from the roof, he casually approached the fox; eventually sprawling upon a near building that somehow did not collapse yet.

"Oh stop complaining so much, you know this time did wonders for getting this body stronger and up to form. It might have lost all of my Jutsu and my speed still needs to get where it once was, but I finally feel comfortable with this form. And as for doing anything better, I think we both know that things will not stay quiet like they have for much longer. Speaking of which, how are you holding up?"

The biju snorted and flexed its spiritual body a bit, crushing a few surrounding houses like they were toys. They both knew it mattered little, while the city seemed in ruin it was actually unchanging in that way, so anything destroyed would get repaired to its earlier (half-ruined) state.

**"Honestly I´ve seen better days but the worst part is finally over. I can´t believe it took me almost twenty years to dig through the joint memories of my eight siblings, not to mention heal the strain that was caused to both our souls as we had to abandon your body and get this one instead."**

"Don´t remind me that was easily the most painful things I had ever done in my life. Hell, I even feel a little sorry for Orochimaru if he had to go through this every three years, not enough to stop me from killing him if I ever see him again but just enough to mark his grave or something like that. We did this once and I really don´t feel like doing it ever again."

**"True, but his technique damaged him so much because he went after anyone who he wanted as a host. The process we did is a bit different in that we can only use one selected body and if it gets killed we might as well get dragged to whatever would await us then because another incarnation in the same world would take thousands of years, if ever. So you better be careful with what you get us into."**

That, Naruto decided, was a very good point. He certainly had no desire to die, not now nor ever for that matter, not when it took for a destruction of an entire world (his own home world no less) for him to reach this new life and he was not going to waste it.

A rather unexpected question appeared in his mind, one that he did not have to ask but felt curious about what the answer would be.

"Say, do you ever miss them? The other eight bijuu? You once told me that things were not always bad between you guys."

If it could, the Kyuubi would probably raise an eyebrow at that, as it stood however, it merely tilted its gigantic head to the size ever so slightly.

**"What brought this on?"**

"I´m not really sure myself, just wanting to know how you feel about this. We really did not talk about what happened back then."

Closing his eyes for a few seconds, the ancient demon snorted a bit, but it did not carry the usual regal undertone the fox usually used in his speech.

**"No need to get all sentimental with me all of a sudden. I admit that seeing them again would be…..enjoyable, even if some of them really got on my nerves, but as far as I am concerned, they are no more and let´s leave it at that. I might just as well ask you if you miss any of your old comrades."**

"You know that I do, well some of them anyway. Hell, I will probably do for the rest of my existence, but I can´t dwell on it forever either. The only things I can possibly do is move forward, otherwise I might just as well be dead."

**"I knew you had a brain in there somewhere after all. But enough about the past, you came here for a reason no? Ah yes, about the ability to create flames with nothing but a sheer effort of will. I wonder what drives you so much to learn it. Is it your fondness for techniques of mass destruction, or maybe the desire to overcome the challenge?"**

Smirking a bit at that, Naruto did not bother to correct his partner, partly because he himself was not sure about the answer either.

"Who knows? Anyway, I don´t know what I´m doing wrong in this. I try to channel my Chi to get the flames to appear, but no matter how I focus on it, all I get is a few sparks at best."

Scratching behind an ear with its paw, the gigantic fox yawned for a second.

**"And what exactly do **_**you**_** think you did wrong?"**

"At first I thought that I either did not put enough energy into it or did not have enough control, though no matter how I tried to balance it out, the outcome was always the same. So what could be missing? Back when I could manipulate chakra, there was a fine line between manipulation, control and power, but this seems way simpler than that."

**"You humans always tend to do overcomplicated things. Do you know what the basic unit behind any act is? It does not matter if you are a human, demon or whatever, what is the one principle that is the same for all of us?"**

Upon seeing the blonde´s questioning look, the Kyuubi rolled its slitted eyes and continued, sounding almost like a teacher of sorts. Well, several hundred feet tall and overall quite imposing (not to mention intimidating, with the giant claws and fangs, each easily bigger than a fully grown man), but a teacher nonetheless.

**"The most basic important element in any action is the will behind it, the intent to do what you wish to carry out. In other words, you must want it to happen, to will it into existence with all your being. They taught you to manipulate chakra in a certain way so you got too used to work in a certain way and automatically tried to do the same here. **

**That´s what you were lacking, merely expecting the result is not enough, you have to force it upon reality itself through your sheer willpower. Mind you, it was highly amusing to watch you struggle with it when the answer was in you all this time."**

Ignoring the twitch in his eyes (since the fox clearly enjoyed rubbing his failures in his face), Naruto had to admit that it sounded plausible, but if it really were true, it was obvious the Kyuubi knew the answer the entire time and waited until he had to ask in person, basically admitting that he needed help. Yep, even if they were partners, the fox loved to be a sneaky not-so-little bastard, mind games like this not being unheard of.

"So the key is to actually envision what I want to accomplish and focus on that? I am almost afraid to ask how you discovered the solution so easily."

**"Don´t be. You might be surprised that the method of manipulating this Chi energy is quite close to what we demons do with our yoki. You honestly did not think that humans have been the first to discover ways to manipulate internal energy have you? How naive.**

**We simply do things, no need to practice some hand gestures or anything of the sort, we simply will it to happen, the only thing that we would ever have to practice is how to use our powers without killing or maiming ourselves."**

"Aren´t you a modest one," asked the blonde, still a bit grumpy about being upstaged so easily.

**"You know it brat. Now focus and try as I told you"** growled the fox, clearly savoring the moment of temporary victory.

Ignoring the smug look his tenant was sending him, Naruto gathered his thoughts and tried again, this time trying to focus harder on what he wanted to do, imagining the flames to appear like he wanted them to.

Although his main element back home was wind, he had a few fire techniques in his arsenal as well and since Li only had the instruction on a flame manipulating style when he asked for an elemental style, he would have to make due with this for now.

After a few moments, he felt a new sensation in his outstretched hand, a warmth and heat that felt strangely comforting yet did not burn in the slightest, like a rush of pure energy pulsing through him. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of a large mass of fire swirling around his hand like an extension of his body.

"Wow. This really is something."

And it felt that way too. While he knew what chakra felt like, this was quite a new experience. While the basic usage of Chi did not really seem any different, it seemed that when it came to elemental power, there were some things that separated the two. If only he could compare the two energies in person.

The Kyuubi grinned at seeing his bewildered look, continuing where it left off before.

**"Feels good doesn´t it? To feel the power burning through your veins, to know that you can scorch everything around you with a mere thought is not a bad feeling once you get used to it. Just don´t forget to keep it in check or it might burn you as well. Still, I admit that´s not so bad for a beginner, maybe it went to you so naturally because fire is one of my main elements, but you might…WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"**

Startled by the sudden roar, Naruto found himself blasted away from his mindscape. Blinking, he opened his eyes, finally back to his senses. Good thing too, otherwise he might have missed the massive shadow standing over him.

Out of pure instinct, he rolled to the side, barely enough for a massive fist to miss him and slam into the ground where he was moments ago with enough force to create a small crater upon impact.

Looking his attacker over, he had to whistle slightly upon inspecting his attacker. The form illuminated by the setting sun was one of a monster, for nothing else could take on such a form.

Standing at almost four meters, the creature´s body was covered in light-colored fur, the closest possible match he could think of was some sort of humanoid lion, but given the pair of long horns protruding from its head and the glowing golden eyes, it was only a rough comparison.

_´What the hell is this thing?´_

With a roar, the beast charged him once again, swinging its claws wildly in an obvious effort to tear him to pieces. Too bad though, Naruto rather liked his body the way it was so there was no way he would let this thing just kill him without a fight.

Still, as he was dodging the rampaging monster, he could not help but feel that something was a little off. For some reason it felt like he was not even the real target, more like the damn thing was holding back a lot.

But that was just fine with him, taking advantage of someone else´s weakness was hardly anything new for him, being a former assassin and all. First of all, he would have to make sure that the overgrown piece of fur would not be going anywhere.

With a leap to the side, he reached for his spear that was until then lying on the ground and hurled it forward, the concealing cloth falling apart as the weapon neared its target.

The monster tried to move to the side, but given its size, it was too slow to react and the crimson spear went right through its foot and into the ground below, effectively binding it in place. Using the moment when it was roaring in pain, the blonde dashed forward and quickly disabled the other leg with a Chi enhanced talon strike, sending the creature to its knees.

_´I´m glad this thing seems to be mindless, things would be bad if something this size could adapt to my movements.´_

_**"Finish it quickly, there is something foul about its aura."**_

Cracking his knuckles, the blonde nodded and faster than the downed beast could blink he was upon his foe, fist blazing with a blue aura given how much Chi he was concentrating in it. He could literally feel the bones breaking under his fist as it struck his target.

As if sensing the danger it was in, the fur covered monster threw him off at the last second, avoiding having its chest cavity completely smashed in by mere moments.

Brushing himself off, Naruto stood up again, watching for any signs that the stubborn beast was about to do anything.

_´I have to admit, that´s a pretty resilient body this thing had. A normal human would have his heart and lungs turned to paste by now. Oh well, I guess this is a good time as any.´_

Once more focusing the energy into his hands, the blonde smiled as a mass of flames once again appeared, swirling around his body. Who better than to serve as a target of his new style than the very being who coveted his life (for one reason or another)?

Although he was fairy new at this, burning an immobilized target to ashes should not be hard, even for a beginner.

As if sensing that the situation was quickly escalating in a truly unfavorable way, the monster breathed in and faster before he could react, exhaled violently, the force of it kicking up pieces of earth and forcing Naruto to cover his eyes for a second.

When he opened them again, he had to curse under his breath, finding the monstrous being gone and his spear stuck in the ground….along with the fur covered foot that was still pinned down, a small pool of blood slowly forming around it.

_´Interesting. Did it figure out that the spear could not be pulled out so it left its foot behind, or was it just an instinctual reaction? And more importantly, why did such a thing seek me out in the first place?´_

_**"You wasted a good opportunity to finish it off, we can worry about what it was after it´s dead," **_chided the fox, although it was clear that it did not care that much about what happened.

_´Even if it miraculously regenerates its lost leg, the wound caused by Sǐwáng will not heal unless I am killed or the spear destroyed. And there was something strange about it, something I want to know before I kill it.´_

_**"Just don´t come crying to me when it comes to bite you in the ass."**_

_´Don´t fuss over it, when was the last time I cried about anything? Being really pissed off or being a bit upset is one thing, but even I can´t remember when I last shed tears, save perhaps for my time in the void.´_

The silence was enough of an answer for him as he submerged himself into training with his new style once again, determined to gain at least some level of skill in the style (since only a fool would claim complete mastery after such short time). The day was not over yet and he was not about to let it slip by without making the most of it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**And so ends chapter four. Honestly I was not sure whether I would make it this far, but so far things have gone more or less well. Hope you enjoyed it and if you did (or didn´t, I hardly expect everyone to like this) leave a review. That will be all for now people, see you all next time and until then, be well.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I´m back people, along with the new chapter of my creation. Now before we begin, let me to say a certain fact before we begin. Just because Naruto is a character from another world does not mean that he is the only one, as I mentioned in my prologue story, there are other people out there that can cross between worlds, two of those groups will be briefly mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, although admittedly they will have a bigger role only later in the storyline.**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A deep bestial laughter could be heard all around, offering no escape or mercy whatsoever.

**"Why do you keep fighting me? You focused so much on suppressing me that your prey mopped the floor with you like it was nothing. If you focused all of your power on fighting him then you might even stand a chance of beating him, but no, you tried so much to keep me in check that your own rage and impatience got the better of you."**

The lion-like creature gripped its head in pain, the previously golden eyes clouded by apparent pain.

"That was your doing! My aim was to capture the fugitive and bring him in for judgment, your side only want to kill anyone who might prove a threat!"

**"And isn´t that the same thing in the end? Face it, you so-called guardians are just too soft to admit something so simple even to yourselves. Why not just let me take care of it so that we can both go our separate ways? Or do you really care what happens to the girl who used to own this body that much?"**

A flash of anger appeared in the golden eyes and the beast snarled in obvious displeasure at such an idea.

"You will not harm her! It is thanks to her that I was able to enter this world and I will return this body to her once my duty is done, you would only drain her and then cast her aside!"

**"And what´s wrong with that? Humans are born every day and even if she has some dormant spiritual powers that enabled this union, mortals like her are easily replaced. Why you people continue to protect these pests is beyond me."**

"Silence! I will complete this task and you will not interfere!"

Once again the other presence laughed, as if it heard something very amusing.

**"Keep telling yourself that, but we both know that you can no longer keep me fully contained…..not when you needed my power to replace your lost limb."**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**"You are getting better at this,"**_ commented the Kyuubi idly as its host left a trail of destruction in his wake, the air around him unnaturally heated as the flame continued to writhe around according to his will.

_"Maybe, but my control is still far off from being perfect. It´s surprisingly easy to bring the power out, but redirecting it like an extension of my body is something different. It was easy with chakra once you knew the principles, just mold the energy and let it fly, this is a bit more taxing on concentration and that´s something that might cost me a fight one day," _replied Naruto, playing around with a stream of fire, letting it flow around his outstretched hand like a coiling serpent.

Then, without warning, the flames shot forward, taking the form of a fiery projectile until abruptly crashing into a tree, setting it ablaze in an instant.

Around him, the landscape was in no better shape, numerous burn marks littering the area, indicating that this was hardly his first try. Indeed, going by the moon up in the sky and his light panting, one could easily tell that it´s been more than a few hours since he first came there.

_**"Are you still that mad about the spirit of that old geezer getting the better of you? Or is it pent-up anger for those that destroyed the village? The way I see it, why are you so worked up over the death of a few villagers? For the most part, they did not interfere with us and we did not know them all that much."**_

_"I´m not sure whichever it is, but it feels like I have gotten complacent. I don´t know if I ever saw that tiny fishing village like my true home, but it´s my inability to do anything that makes me angry. Just like back in Elemental Nations, things happen all around me and no matter how strong I am, in the end it only means that I get to be the one watching the world burn,"_ growled Naruto in a rare bout of anger.

_**"Heh, you might have aged but deep inside you are still not seeing the entire picture brat. Unless you become a being that can control the very universe itself, things will always happen the way someone else wants them to. Besides, so long as we are the ones left standing in the end, why not enjoy watching the world crumble all around? You and I are of one body, one mind. And I know that at least a part of you enjoys seeing destruction no matter what form it takes."**_

It were times like these that reminded the blonde that his tenant was actually not human, but a demonic being who just happened to be fused with him into one form, the seal being one of the main reasons why he ended up being in control.

Honestly speaking however, if something truly scared him, it would be the fact that deep inside of his mind, he might found himself agreeing with his tenant ever so slightly. However…he had his own way, one that did not include mindlessly agreeing with everything his partner said.

_"That might be fun for you Kyuubi, but I want more than just that. The only thing I don´t know is what exactly that something is in this world. In Konoha, even if there were times I wanted nothing more than kill all those who were making our life hell, my desire was to be seen as the first among them, the one that ruled over them, just like my father was before me. _

_Then, as I finally met those few that were good to me, I wanted to have power to keep them alive at my side. And when I was ambushed at that mobile island by all those Akatsuki I wanted power to destroy my enemies. _

_All those desires carried on with me into this body, but most of them are nothing but a memory, given that our world got destroyed. I did not realize it when I was so focused on training, but being on the move and fighting for my life brought it all back. Just what am I supposed to do? I may even have to distrust the very man who cared for me all those years here, yet I still pursue him nonetheless."_

_**"If you are hesitating now, then why don´t you simply go along with your original plan and maybe the answer will come to you? For now, our enemies are hidden in the shadows, but it works both ways. Play along for now and let the solution come sooner or later. Patience is an annoying virtue, but it pays off occasionally."**_

_"I guess there is something wrong with me if you of all people have to lecture me about patience,"_ snorted Naruto, his mood improved by the irony of the situation that an embodiment of wrath and rage (although fortunately the fox was not easy to anger) was cautioning him about virtues.

Focusing all his attention back towards his training, the blonde breathed in deeply, concentrating. After a few seconds, he jumped into the air and made an airborne kick towards one of the charred trees.

Surprisingly, a stream of fire emerged from his leg, heading straight towards the poor piece of wood and finishing its destruction easily.

_´So it works even like this huh? Looks like there are advantages over chakra after all, even ninja with fire as their main affinity could not manipulate it with this precision and somehow I get the feeling this is just beginning to scratch the surface. Lacks the overall power but that might change with time and training,´ _thought the former Shinobi, his mind already preparing possible ways to expand upon all the new options at hand.

However, his tenant was getting bored with watching him destroying their surroundings and while it was good that he trained himself when possible, the Kyuubi was slowly getting tired of the show.

_**"You should take a break kid. Training hard is nice, but knowing your limits is crucial too. You did well for being an inexperienced user and you lasted longer than I expected, but remember that you no longer have the luxury of unlimited energy stores. So you might want to take a break and do something else, go find that girlfriend of yours and get a piece of her for all I care."**_

_"Since when is she my girlfriend you perverted fox? Dawn Star is my only friend in years and I really don´t think that this is the time to be thinking like this either."_

Hearing that, the ancient demon only smirked, expecting exactly that kind of reaction. While he no longer had a body of his own, there was absolutely no way his he would allow his host to completely shun the pleasures that life could offer if he had anything to say about it.

_**"So you assume. But I wonder if she feels the same way? She has stuck by your side from day one and her loyalty to you is rather impressive. Knowing just how deep her bond to you goes might prove beneficial. Besides, didn´t you want to talk with her anyway?"**_

_"Fine, you win. But if I hear any complaints from you about it later I´m hauling you back into that sewer prison."_

_**"Wouldn´t dream of it brat,"**_laughed the fox before cutting off their connection, leaving Naruto to his own devices.

Sighing, the blonde collected his things and left, heading back towards the Inn.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The night sky (visible through the open window) always seemed like the most beautiful thing, the stars shining like a myriad of precious jewels suspended in the sky, bathing everyone and everything in a light that offered comfort no matter what troubled her.

It might be a silly thought conjured up by her imagination, but it was something Dawn Star held onto for most of her life so far. It was a way of coping with her abilities and with the knowledge that most of the people around her were nervous or outright fearful of that talent.

True, a few people like Li and Naruto were on her side no matter what others said, but given what she learned this afternoon, even that seemed like a distant past now.

If what the blonde said was true (and so far she never had to doubt his words ever before), then he was the last of an order that governed over the dead and her teacher (and father figure as well she supposed) was both a sibling to the emperor and a man responsible for wiping out said order in the first place.

Just how should one deal with such a sudden revelation? Compared to this her problems suddenly seemed small, but more importantly, it created a question she never faced before: Could she trust Naruto with her life in the battles ahead?

Although their motives probably differed, they were both chasing after the same person who was now a prisoner to the most feared organization throughout the entire empire. In the face of such opposition, absolute trust was needed to succeed.

While Zu was a bit of an enigma, for some reason she did not believe that he was a bad person. Naruto was something different.

He had been by her side the entire time, yet had such a secret to him all the while, only sharing it now after all these years….could she really follow a person like that into the dragon´s lair without worrying?

A quick knock on her door interrupted her thoughts, forcing her to gasp in surprise. She almost reached for her sword, until she felt something familiar. While sensing living people was normally impossible for her, the blonde was a sole exception so far.

Why that was she did not know, but something about his soul seemed to pick upon her keen spiritual senses. But there was no mistaking it, the aura behind the door was him.

"Come in Naruto."

Shaking his head, the blonde did so, still a bit disbelieving that the girl could so accurately identify him and with such ease too. A shame that her abilities could not be used to detect humans, since that would make any possible ambush pointless, but even detecting spiritual beings was better than nothing.

"You know sometimes I would like to actually walk up to you without being detected in advance, it´s a little strange."

Brushing a strand of hair from her eyes, Dawn Star smiled a little at that, although it lacked some of her usual good mood.

"Stranger than being friends with the last living spirit monk and being a pupil of the glorious strategist?"

That was an excellent point, one that made Naruto wince a bit.

"Dawn Star…"

"Don´t say it Naruto, I know you at least well enough to recognize that you are sorry and that´s fine. Just tell me…please…how long did you know about all that?"

Sitting next to her, the blonde leaned against the wall before giving a reply.

"Honestly? Not that longer than you or Zu. Master Li told me shortly before setting us off into that damned cave where we found the amulet, so I know about a week longer than either of you, but not much longer."

Blinking in surprise, the black-haired girl had to admit that this was not the answer that she had expected, far from it in fact. So he didn´t know either?

"Oh. So all those years….."

"…..I was in the same boat as you. Not that I did not suspect that something was a bit off, but without a way to prove it so I let it be."

"And now are both chasing after our teacher, right into the heart of the empire."

"Yeah, life sure has a way of keeping you on your toes huh," wondered Naruto, although he mostly meant it toward himself, not that Dawn Star had any way of knowing that.

Giving of and exasperated sigh, Dawn Star leaned against the wall, unsure how to respond to that. But at least she knew whether he was hiding an important truth knowingly or not.

"You know if you don´t want to risk your life on this I don´t think anyone would blame you. Unlike me, you have no personal stake in this and there is a good chance that it will get ugly the more we press forward. If there´s a time while you can still back up, it would be now," spoke Naruto.

Not that he did not want her help, on the contrary, but even if so far they didn´t run into anything they could not handle, they were essentially going against the empire here. Their luck was ironically in their obscurity, since they had not done anything to attract attention…yet.

Plus there was that strange beast that seemed only interested in targeting him specifically for reasons he could only begin to imagine. He let it escape because there was simply something strange about it that caught his attention (physical appearances aside), but he forgot to consider that it might target others who were with him as well.

For a moment, Dawn Star looked away, almost as if contemplating what he said, before turning back to him, an unusual fire in her dark eyes.

"I realized that the moment we found out who destroyed Two Rivers, but I followed you regardless of that, knowing that you would go on alone if you had to.

I´m not as strong as you are Naruto, but you are if you think I am letting you go alone guess again.

Saving Li and giving those murderers a taste of the pain they inflicted upon those helpless villagers is the least we can do to grant all the dead some measure of peace, but most of all I don´t want to be left behind no matter what. You were there for me all these years, so I promise that I will do the same no matter the circumstances."

There were not many things that would leave Uzumaki Naruto speechless, but a declaration like this was one of them. In all his life so far, never did a single person had neither the guts nor a reason to say something like that to him.

Actually, all things considered, not a single person ever made him a vow like that. Sure, others often wanted him to make some sort of promise to them (like that deluded pink haired eyesore when the so-called love of her life decided to jump ship and betray the village, not that he was dumb enough to make a promise to someone who until then viewed him as nothing but a burden), but never did someone actually make a vow to him instead.

To hear a person willing swear that they would follow him no matter what, this was a new and utterly unfamiliar sensation, but not the unwelcome kind. It felt strange to say the least, although he could not deny that it felt comforting in a way.

Although a part of him wondered if she would still feel the same if she knew all the things he had done in his previous life, he did not dwell on it too much. This was a new life, one where the past should have (almost) no say, so why not enjoy the moment to its fullest?

Leaning forward, his right hand cupped her cheek, a small but undeniable smile on his face. Ignoring her brief and rather half-hearted cry of indignation, his deep blue eyes bore into hers with an uncharacteristically grateful and relaxed look.

"I´m glad you´re with me," was the single sentence he said in response, but it conveyed his feelings about the matter perfectly.

Neither moved for a while, Dawn Star too caught up in the moment (her face resembling that of a deer caught in headlights) and Naruto was enjoying the feeling of her smooth unblemished skin beneath his fingers.

Despite all those years at a martial arts school, the girl (or rather young woman) retained an image of undeniable beauty and if anything, the rigorous training only accentuated the fact. And as he looked at her, the blonde could not help but ponder upon what the fox said.

What was he to her? And more importantly, what was she to him? He knew almost everything there was to know about her and in turn, she probably knew more about him than anyone else (at least as far as this world was concerned).

He was not sure of the answer, but one thing was for certain, he was not alone. While the notion would seem ridiculous or easily granted to some, it meant a lot to him.

Even back at the school, from the very moment when he stopped being a child and defeated a fighter many years his senior, he was admired by his fellow students and set up by his Master Li as a perfect example what they should strive to become, but no one really tried to understand him, aside from her that is (not counting their teacher, since he was the only parental figure at the time).

Wishing her good night, the blonde had to admit that he would not mind seeing her as more than just a longtime friend.

Meanwhile, watching him leave, Dawn Star could not help but feel a twinge of disappointment, like a part of her wanted him to stay. Wait, that could not be right could it? She knew him as a friend, but could there be more to it? Why did he have to be so damn confusing at times?

But at the very least, she got her answer and it was more than enough to strengthen her resolve. With a content smile, the girl drifted off to sleep, her worries nothing but a memory now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came surprisingly fast, the sun dispersing the darkness of the night and revealing the face of the world once again. Fortunately, nothing happened during the night so Naruto could enjoy his rest in peace.

It was still early in the morning, but the blonde was never one to require too much sleep to rest. Hard to say if it his tenant had something to do with his

After getting redressed, the blonde walked out of the room, being greeted by the sight of Sagacious ZU standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"I assume you are not here to bid me good morning Zu," greeted the blonde his scarred companion, who grunted in affirmation.

"Dawn Star is still asleep I presume?"

"It´s still early so I guess so. But that´s not what you are here for is it."

"No. I bear news that might complicate our journey, but first let me say this: I do not believe your master is the same man as the glorious strategist, but since you were so insistent on it I will not dissuade you. Know this however, once we gain the attention of the lotus assassins, there will be no turning back. Many tried to fight back against them and none survived, think carefully if you truly wish to take this path."

Snorting a bit, Naruto hardly needed time to come up with an answer. True, he could always pretend that the past twenty years never happened and go his own way, but that just did not sit well with him.

While he had no wish to avenge a bunch of people who were almost strangers to him, Sun Li held the key to the answers to both his past (that of this incarnation at least) and his future, he was sure of it. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

The man infamous for planning even for the smallest of things would not tell him his origins just out of the kindness of his heart. It was possible he supposed, but it was also not unthinkable that it was done with a purpose in mind. Plus the timing of the assassins was too close after the bandit raid, enough to seem too convenient in his eyes.

Some part of him wanted to crush such thoughts and never think of them again, but the more rational side insisted on doing otherwise. It was not easy, to be suspicious about his only parental figure, especially since he never had any sort of family in his first life (since the two Sannin came into his life only later on), but he could not avoid it because of that.

There is no such thing as being too careful, that was a lesson he learned ironically from Danzo himself when the old man once came to the academy to give the younger generation a speech on what it takes to become a ninja, probably hoping to inspire the younger generation to take their future career seriously.

Sadly, he was the only one in his class to truly heed that lesson, but it inspired him to stop being a kid and take things seriously, which enabled him to become the best of his generation by leaps and bounds and in less than two years rise to the position of Tokubetsu Jounin.

Regardless of that, the lesson from that day carried on to this very day, which meant that until proven otherwise, the old master had a hand in all this as well. However, since he seemed at the center of it all, he had little choice but to follow and try to decipher the way that already seemed set out for him.

That was why he did not need to hesitate, and it was also why his answer was clear.

"Running away was never an option Zu and honestly, there is not much choice in the matter. Dawn Star would probably try to follow our teacher even if I didn´t and this way I might even find out something about my people, since I am the last of my kind after all."

"I suppose that is as good a motive as any. Have it your way then, we will speak later," replied Zu and left, leaving Naruto once again alone.

_"You know if he would brood a bit more and have hair then this would feel really familiar," _murmured the blonde.

_**"Maybe it´s your shitty luck to get stuck with the silent broody types"**_ laughed the fox at his misfortune.

_"….."_

_**"No, please not you too, come on I was just joking! Kid? Speak to me…."**_

The slight panic in the Kyuubi´s voice was enough for Naruto to burst into laughter; it was just too funny to hear the ancient demon so worked up over such a small thing. It was hard to say if the fox was simply looking at things in a very different way or if it had a few screw loose (not that he was a role model for sanity himself), but he was glad for its company nevertheless.

Now all he had to do was wait for Dawn Star to wake up, that or do it himself, whichever he would choose first. Although what Zu said worried him a bit. As if they already didn´t have enough problems already, now something else popped up?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you mean we can´t go southwards?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, the imperial army has barred all the roads heading south, apparently there is a plague going on there and they don´t want it to spread further. So it´s either risk going by river, which would delay us by weeks if not more, or we can try to get a flyer. Either options are not exactly perfect, but it´s either of those or waiting until it´s over," said Zu.

"Why would the river be such a bad idea?"

"It might not seem that way at first, but even by river it would take several weeks to reach the capital, and that´s if we avoid the slavers that supposedly plague the water currents in these parts."

"And the flyer?"

"That might be the easier way. The local noble, lord Yun, would be the one with access to both flyers and wind maps."

"Assuming the lotus assassins did not confiscate them first."

"Wait, wind maps?" asked Dawn Star, not familiar with the term.

"Probably recorded air currents so that the flyers can navigate across the skies, or so I assume," spoke Naruto, since he had some experience with flying machines. Yes, he accidentally destroyed one, but after the liberation of Snow country he made sure to get one of the surviving engineers to explain everything there was to know about it.

One airborne crash into a mountain was more than enough in his eyes after all and it did not hurt to be prepared. He never expected that such knowledge would be useful in the next life though.

"Correct. You are surprisingly knowledgeable for living in such an isolated village," stated Zu, sounding a bit impressed at that. But seeing the blonde only smile at that, he continued.

"At any rate, we are in luck. Lord Yun´s criers arrived in the town today and from the way it sounds, he is in need of some assistance…."

"…..and if we so happen to lend him a hand he might owe us a favor," finished Naruto, getting a nod from the former mercenary.

"I wonder what lord Yun would need help with that he cannot do himself," wondered Dawn Star, thinking what might be so serious that the noble would turn to the average wayfarers and common masses when he doubtlessly had armed forces of his own.

"Maybe something he would not want others to know or he is afraid of the assassins so he would like others to take the blame if they came asking," thought Naruto aloud, since back in Elemental Nations cases like this were extremely common, since ninja basically did dirty work for whoever paid them and later got blamed for it by those affected.

_´Man, some things never change. Bandits, slavers, assassins, nobles hiring others to avoid getting their hands dirty, the spirits of the dead cannot find rest and only make things worse; all the while the emperor sits on his throne with power stolen from a god, and yet he still needs to lie to his subjects. This world is a mess just like the Elemental Nations, no, probably even more,´_ thought Naruto, feeling more and more disappointed with the state of affairs.

While he was not as much of an idealist as Jiraya had been and generally recognized that a universal understanding between everyone was unlikely, he still believed that some semblance of peace and order was achievable under certain conditions.

Sadly, the only way to accomplish that back home was to first unite all the nations under one banner and that would be impossible unless someone had the power to achieve that, something he did not have.

In this realm it might seem easier since there was one absolute ruler viewed as a literal god, but as it turned out he was even worse than the corrupted feudal lords who maintained the ninja system back home.

His thoughts were interrupted however as his scarred companion spoke up.

"Only one way to find out," pointed out Zu the obvious, although he mentally agreed with what the blonde said earlier, having seen such things happen time and time again.

With the trio in agreement, they all up and left to hear out the offer that was now loudly proclaimed for all to hear.

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Fortunately, they were apparently the first to respond to the summons and the crier did not seem too picky about who would show up, one look at them and they commanded to follow, the man obviously relieved with his task done so quickly and before long, they were escorted before the main man himself.

Dressed in mostly green colored formal robes, the grey haired lord Yun seem to have the regal bearings and posture of a nobleman, yet he lacked the pompous _´I am so better than a lowlife like you´_ look Naruto had seen on those of noble blood before.

Hell, he even ignored the warnings of his bodyguards to stay behind them, instead option to speak with them face to face. That alone was a definite plus in Naruto´s books, so he was willing to listen to what the guy had to say.

Stepping forward, lord Yun gave a polite (if slight) bow in greetings, something the trio returned, not wanting to seem impolite, and spoke up.

"I thank you for answering my summons; it is good that there are still those willing to answer my call in times of need. By your stature and weapons I assume that you are all warriors, so perhaps I should skip to the task at hand?"

"Please do," replied Naruto courtly but with a hint of impatience, earning a growl from the man´s guards at the show of disrespect. However, the lord did not seem to mind, on the contrary, in fact.

"Excellent. As you might be aware, there have been troubling reports regarding the vast forests that encompass much of these lands, travelers vanishing never to be seen again and strange beasts threatening the roads.

Understandably, at first I thought nothing of it, dismissing it as mere tall tales, however recently something came up that we simply could not ignore: A fox demon."

Upon hearing that, Naruto perked up, since this was something that would naturally catch his interest, having a demonic fox as a partner. Inside of his soul, he could feel the Kyuubi stirring, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"I can see that got your attention. The fox spirit meant to be the forest guardian and for generations my ancestors had been at peace with it, even accepting it as a spiritual guide when in dire situation. However, lately even I have to admit that the forest has become far more dangerous than normal, which means that something probably happened to the guardian. You can probably see where I am going with this."

"You want us to find out the source of the problem and take care of it I presume. But what if we find out that this fox is behind it," questioned Zu, knowing that things could always turn around in a way not expected at first.

"Please understand, I do not wish the forest guardian harm, but my first priority is restoring the safety of my people and even if that includes going against it…then I supposed that there is no other choice," replied the green clad lord, although he it was clear that he did not like what he was asking for one bit.

"Very well, one last question before we consider accepting this task lord Yun. Why need us for the task? A man of your stature doubtlessly has subordinates capable of carrying out the deed, why the need for outsiders," asked the blonde curiously, although he could guess the issue already.

"I see you are the perceptive one. Indeed, while that would normally be the case, both me and my men are banned from entering the forest for the time being by the imperial edict that grants sole sovereignty to the lotus assassins until their work is over. Why they are in these remote regions is beyond me, but they should pose no threat to your task, given how they never leave those old ruins deep in the woods."

"And in the case they find us out you can deny any knowledge of us," added the blonde, getting a grimace from Yun, who did not even bother to deny it.

"I recognize the risk in what I am asking, rest assured that in exchange I will make sure that any reasonable request on your side will be fulfilled once the lands are safe again."

Turning to face his two companions, Naruto looked at them to see what they thought about the situation.

Zu only nodded back; obviously not bothered by the nature of their task, while Dawn Star seemed a bit disturbed how casually the noble admitted that they were so expendable in the larger scheme of things but after a minute or two composed herself, once again schooling her features back into normal. This was their best chance at quickly advancing south and she knew it just like he did.

"Fine. I guess we´ll help you out."

"Excellent. Once you leave town, take the road that leads through the woods, you should eventually reach a small temple. I believe two of my best men should be waiting there, they might offer assistance if you mention what you are there to do," answered the noble, giving a cryptic smile that clearly hinted at another meaning behind his words.

"I thought you said that they are banned from entering," wondered Dawn Star, not noticing the subtle hint within the lord´s words.

"Ah, that I did, but to my knowledge I gave them no order to go there, they must have gone there on their own volition," waved lord Yun his hand in a dismissive way, like it was something barely worth of notice.

Not really in the mood to ponder how much more obvious this man´s manipulations could be, Naruto excused himself and left with his companions in tow, not needing any more reminders that he was running errands for someone else…again.

It was not as much that he minded doing a task for another person, what truly irked him about it however was that he was forced to do so, not having a choice in the matter. But throwing a fit about it never solved anything, so he chose not to dwell on it and move on, they had work to do.

_**"So you are finally on the move? I am curious about what passes as a demon fox in these lands,"**_ spoke Kyuubi through their mental link, sounding somewhat curious for once, something not usual with him.

_"Figures you would. I admit I´m a little curious as well, so let´s hope that I will not end up killing it."_

Hastening their step, the trio left the riverside town, heading towards the lush forests that awaited them, silent yet strangely menacing nonetheless. None of them had any idea just what would happen there, but there was no turning back now.

What awaited them would change the course of their lives forever.

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**And so we come a close on chapter five. Sorry for cutting it like this, but if I truly stuffed in everything that will happen than it would just be too damn long. I hope you enjoyed it and as always, reviews are greatly appreciated. See you next time...**


	6. Chapter 6

Hi everyone, it has been some time now, but as you can see I am back with a new chapter in tow. As usual, I hope you enjoy and if not, well, can´t help you there. So without further delay, I present to you chapter six...

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Trudging through the woods, could not help but shake off the feeling that they were being constantly watched by someone (or something), again, their movements observed by some unseen watcher.

Considering that the entire forest was supposed to be the domain of a guardian demon and had a whole bunch of lotus assassins somewhere in it as well however, it hardly came as a surprise that either of the two (possibly both) would be watching them and for the moment all they could do was bear with it.

Nonetheless, as he looked upon his friend holding her head in obvious distress, it quickly became apparent that some higher force (not that he really cared which one it could be) was really trying its best to make things even worse than they were.

"What´s wrong," questioned Zu, seemingly a tad irritated at the sudden stop.

"This forest…it´s filled with so many spiritual auras, I´ve never felt this many in one place before. Sorry for worrying you, just give me a second to get used to it," replied Dawn Star, massaging her temples.

Of course, neither Naruto nor Zu were spiritually sensitive (and the blonde had a suspicion that Zu and the word sensitive really did not belong in the same sentence) so they could not feel what she did, but it gave him an idea.

"Say, can you tell how many are there if you sense them? It might be helpful if we know at least the numbers set against us."

Nodding in affirmative, the raven haired girl breathed in and focused for a few seconds, then frowned a bit.

"All in all I would estimate several dozen of auras as far as I can sense, almost half of them are maddened souls like we faced before, those are moving around in small groups, the others….they don´t feel like the rest, their presence is much more different and more….alive. Those are however almost impossible to pin down."

Now that got his attention. Undead with anger management issues (although he could not blame them for it, considering the reason behind it) was one thing, heading straight towards an unknown enemy was another.

"It stands to reason that one of those might be the demon fox, is there any way to tell it apart from the rest," inquired Sagacious, his monotone voice betraying just the smallest hint of curiosity.

"Unfortunately no, if I had a chance to get familiar with her aura then it would be easy, this way I have no way of narrowing it down. The only thing I can say for certain is that the unusual ones are more or less all equal in terms of aura size and potency, none of them really sticking out in any way."

While it was a shame that their target could not be located so easily, Naruto did not let that discourage him, he made it too far for such a detail to even bother him.

"Can you use your skills to lead us past the wandering ghosts? I feel no desire to meet any more lost souls than we already have," asked Zu.

Getting a nod in affirmative, Dawn Star took the lead and the trio continued forward. Of course, they did not manage to completely avoid an encounter with the maddened spectres, but fighting once was better than going blind through every battle available.

As they progressed deeper into the forest, they encountered several of them again, but thankfully none of them seemed to possess any kind of martial arts, trying to compensate with mindless rage.

If he had to guess, none of these souls belong to a fighter of any kind, probably just innocent people that died in the area, or so he would assume.

However, there was one thing that he and his companions found out the hard way, in addition to being immensely durable to anything but Chi-enhanced strikes or specially engraved weapons (he tried to see how they would react to his elemental fire and they did not even flinch at it), but some of them could fire strange corrosive projectiles, making dodging their hits almost mandatory unless you liked experiencing a world of pain.

Luckily, it was not that strong (although it still hurt quite a lot), although he dreaded what would happen if that particular power would get any more potent, or worse, if it were in the hands of someone like Shen Zu or a spirit of even greater skill?

Knowing that speculating any further would only be detrimental, he let it be, instead carefully watching for any signs of danger. So far, they were going along the road like Yun suggested earlier, trees surrounding them from both sides.

However, it was still quite some distance to where they were heading. Sighing a bit, the blonde resigned himself to continue forward, already thinking that this was going to be a long day.

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Just before Naruto was about to declare a severe case of boredom, the trio stopped upon hearing a loud war cry and the unmistakable sound of a fight going on.

Quickly reaching a decision, they quickly advanced forward, ready for anything, but as it would seem their assistance was not necessary.

There, in front of what seemed like an old forest shrine of some sorts were two men, one seemingly in his late thirties wielding a spear (and with not a small amount of skill if the blonde were to judge), the other having a massive stature and a rather brutish appearance, swinging two large axes around like they were toys.

Given how the larger fighter was moving and occasionally spinning around like a miniature tornado (a truly dangerous combination when counting his weapons of choice), the spearman was wisely standing in the back, keeping his distance.

Not that the giant needed any help as it seemed, he kept hacking and slashing at the attacking spirits until none remained.

Seeing as they were not yet seen, the trio hid in the foliage, plotting their next move.

"Are those the two that lord Yun mentioned? By their skills, it would seem likely and they do not seem like members of the assassins," wondered Dawn Star quietly, sword at the ready.

"Only one way to find out. Both of you stay in hiding, I will approach them and we will see how things play out."

"A wise decision, we might have the element of surprise this way if things get out of hand," whispered Zu, getting a nod in return.

Stepping from his hiding place, Naruto slowly approached the two, watching for any signs of movement from them. As he came closer, he could hear what their ongoing conversation.

"How can you fight so well when the only thing you do all day is drink," inquired the spear wielding warrior, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It´s harder to drink the piss you people call wine than fight those ghosts. Honestly, with the way you keep diluting it, the crap tastes more like water than anything else. Is everything around here missing its good parts?" grumbled the giant man, obviously not happy about being there.

Upon hearing their conversation, the blonde could not help but sweatdrop a bit, but slowly walked towards them nonetheless. Quickly taking note of the new arrival, the axe wielding battle maniac grinned, brandishing his axes once more.

"Hey, here comes another one! And he seems to have all parts on him, finally a challenge!"

"Wait! That´s not a….too late," desperately tried the other man to stop his companion from breaking into fighting, but unfortunately with little success.

Charging forward in a reckless but rather fast move for his large frame, the man watched as his axes impacted the ground with a heavy thud….but missing their intended target, as he moved to the side, his speed and reflexes saving him where others would be vertically cleaved in half by the sheer power the man was putting behind his strikes.

Using the brief opening available, Naruto lunged forward and went for the throat, trying to subjugate the larger fighter quickly, but he had to stop and dodge if he wanted to keep his head as barely a second ago one of the axes went right for him.

Getting an elbow blow to his stomach (which was quite painful considering Naruto´s strength), the axe wielding giant grunted in pain before once again resuming the deadly dance of battle.

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Watching the battle unfold (while also looking for any movement from the spear wielder), Sagacious Zu had to admit that his blue-eyed companion was at least slightly impressive, considering how he was holding his own against his opponent without getting even nicked by the wild slashes and relentless attacks and hitting back at the same time, when an ordinary person would long since get cut to pieces.

Did he notice the moments when the giant converted all his attention towards attack while leaving himself open? That was the only explanation that made sense, but such an approach was also the most dangerous to use, since one wrong move could instantly prove fatal.

"Stay where you are," whispered the scarred mercenary back to Dawn Star, who clearly was nearly about to jump to her friend´s aid.

"You don´t expect me to just stand back and watch as he risks his life out there," glared the normally calm girl, getting an impassive stare in return.

"With the way they are fighting over there we would just be getting in his way. And let´s not forget about that second fighter present, instead of worrying about your friend keep an eye out for the possible threat."

As much as she would like to tell him off, Dawn Star knew he was right, just looking at the fight she realized that the scarred mercenary was right. While hardly weak or anything of the like, upon seeing those two it was pretty clear that Zu was correct in his assumption. But that did not mean she liked it, not one bit.

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Although not usually aggravated easily, Naruto could slowly feel his patience wear thin with his opponent. He acknowledged that this man was generally a very skilled fighter (no matter how much he smelled like sweat and cheap booze) given how much trouble he gave him, but enough was enough.

With considerable risk he even managed to deprive him of his axes and yet it gave the giant almost no pause, immediately continuing with his fists. Aiming for vital points did not seem to work, the man seemed unnaturally resilient to shrug it off, making him wonder just how durable this battle maniac truly was.

Why wouldn´t he fall over!? Despite all his training, here was someone who took the brunt of it and seemed almost overjoyed the more they fought. But at the very least, it was clear that he was no assassin, his reckless and wild way of fighting hardly suited for such a profession.

Still, that did not mean that he was not getting a bit frustrated with their current impasse, not really used to someone being capable of rivaling him in terms of pure stamina and physical prowess, yet here was someone who was doing just that.

Since normal martial arts seemed to have little effect and he did not want to kill the man (given that there was a good chance that he was one of Yun´s men), it would seem that he would get a chance at testing out something he wanted to replicate for some time now.

Combining hand to hand combat with elemental manipulation was something very few people back home did, to his knowledge only the Raikage (a man he respected for his power although his personality leaved much for improvement) and a few others from Kumo seemed proficient in such a way of fighting, a shame if someone were to ask him since anything that can improve one´s fighting power should be exploited to the fullest.

He had long since wanted to know if it were possible to combine his fighting styles with the Dire Flame, hell the only reason why he was hesitant to do so from the start was because he did not have complete control over the flames….yet. But given that his nonlethal attacks were not working, it was as good a time as any.

More than one pair of eyebrows rose as both his hands were suddenly wreathed in flames, the scorching fire seemingly not harming him in the least while illuminating his form, giving it a slightly eerie appearance.

"Enough of this" growled Naruto, his eyes briefly flashing a tinge of red, unnoticed by anyone, not even himself.

_"Yes, that´s the way, make allies and enemies alike tremble beneath your might, one step at a time," _whispered the demonic fox into his ear quietly (not loud enough for Naruto to realize who was speaking), more than eager to bring out aspects of the blonde´s personality that were previously suppressed by the rigorous training and the generally secluded life.

Of course, the Nine Tails had no intention of turning its precious host into a crazed maniac, that was Ichibi´s cup of tea (or coffee or whatever humans seemed to drink), but first and foremost, just like the element of fire he embodied, the fox was a being of rage and might, qualities that he also wanted Naruto to develop as befitting of his container.

And now, with those qualities tempered by years of meditation and an iron will, the time was ripe to give him a little push so to speak. Not that the Kyuubi would ever tell him that openly of course.

Springing towards his opponent, the blonde gave the surprised fighter a flaming uppercut, followed by a barrage of punches that left sizzling, painful burns. Deciding to end this, he dodged under a punch sent his way and with a fiery kick sent the larger man backwards (leaving a smoking trail in his wake), colliding with a tree that cracked and almost snapped by the weight that crashed into it.

Surprisingly, even this did not seem to do much and the giants was about to get up. Or he would have, if he hadn´t felt the cold blade of a spear pressed to his neck.

"Surrender. I might forget myself if we continue fighting, your choice" warned the blonde his downed opponent, hands back to normal and his voice being cold and sounding utterly detached, some of his previous life showing through.

To his surprise however, the large man only laughed heartily, sounding strangely happy for someone who had a weapon to his throat.

"Now that was a good fight, I didn´t have this kind of battle for a long time. Don´t worry, you´ve beaten me, I won´t try anything. The name´s Black Whirlwind by the way."

_´Isn´t that more like a title or something? Meh, who cares.´_

"Naruto," replied the blonde evenly, withdrawing his weapon and stepping away.

Now that he did not have to worry about anticipating his next move, the blonde could get a better look at his enemy. The man had a muscular and very broad build, his disheveled black hair tied loosely in two messy buns.

The most noticeable feature however was the ever-present stench of alcohol in his breath (almost permeating the air around him), much worse than anything the Jinchuuriki had ever experienced with Tsunade.

"Thankfully that´s over. I am very sorry for this incident, but not even I can stop him once the thirst for battle takes over," spoke the spear wielder, his stance relaxed and hands raised in an apologetic manner.

"Hey! Speak for yourself, this was a damned good fight, better than those damned ghosts you had me fighting all this time," grumbled the Black Whirlwind as he retrieved his axes.

"It´s fine, so long as I don´t have to worry about being attacked again. I assume that you two are Yun´s subordinates?"

"You are right about that. I am Spear Catches Leaf, lead hunter of lord Yun. You´ve already met Black Whirlwind, although unlike me he is a hired mercenary, the self-stylized deadliest one in the Jade Empire. Are you supposed to be our backup?"

_´What the hell is with those names? The further I go, the crazier this seems. Then again, I suppose at this point it should not surprise me…´_

"Yeah, we are."

Upon seeing the man´s confused face, the blonde motioned for him to turn around. Doing so, the man was confronted with two more fighters present, standing right behind them and more than ready to jump into action at a moment´s notice.

"Aha! The more the merrier, let´s have a battle royal," cheered Whirlwind drunkenly before noticing Dawn Star.

"And you even brought a fine-looking woman with you! Those are some really nice legs."

"Want to experience the damage these legs can cause?" asked said girl in response to the lewd comment without missing a beat, sounding quite fierce, threatening even, and her beautiful face marred by a challenging look, as if daring the man to try anything further, something rarely seen in her.

Fortunately the giant oaf either lost interest or the threat worked, leaving them to resume their conversation.

"Honestly, if it weren´t for his pure fighting ability and that truly inhuman resilience we would never even consider hiring him. Did you know that he once stormed an imperial outpost, naked and completely drunk? The soldiers there were quite traumatized from what I hear."

For a moment Naruto stared at the man incredulously, but seeing as he was quite serious he could not hold it in any longer and laughed, even Zu and Dawn Star (now calmed down) chuckled a bit at that, since it was simply too funny (although a bit horrifying as well) an image to stay serious.

"Now as entertaining as that was, let´s get to the point why we are here. I am told you can help us find the demon fox."

"Ah yes, the guardian spirit, better known as Forest Shadow. Normally she would be easy to reach, this ancient temple is actually supposed to serve as a focus site where anyone with the proper knowledge could contact her, however there is a problem."

_´It´s always something isn´t it?´_ wondered the blonde, examining the interior of the temple. And indeed, upon closer examination he could clearly see the various depictions of foxes upon the walls, along with what he supposed were once detailed, now mostly smudged carvings of the four seasons.

However, the thing that caught his eyes the most rested in the very back of the temple itself behind a small altar, namely a large stone statue (and a rather detailed one if he were to say so) depicting a humanoid fox with three tails, dressed in clothing and having a circle behind its head.

_"Kyuubi, you seeing this?"_

_"Of course I can, never thought I would see the day when a fox yokai would be worshipped by humans willingly. I am quite eager to see this being myself."_

_"So it is an real demon then? How can you tell?"_

_"This place reeks with a scent only some types of yokai have. Normally humans like you would not notice it since it´s barely noticeable and your senses will ignore it, but once you know what to look for it´s not hard to notice. Unfortunately, there are too many different odors here to tell anything more specific."_

_"Don´t worry about it, we will find it one way or another,"_ replied Naruto, once again turning to face the spearman with the rather long name.

"I can hardly say that I´m surprised. So what is it?"

"Yes well, there is a specific item that my lord used to summon the spirit, a small crystal clear as freshly fallen snow that must be placed on the altar as an offering to bring it forth after a set of chants is performed. However, the one reserved for this years had been stolen and until recently we have not been able to find who was responsible."

"Given the way you said it I assume you know where it is now," spoke out Zu, echoing the same question his two companions had.

"In a way of speaking. After much time tracking the supposed culprits, I discovered that the trail leads to Pilgrim´s Rest Inn, a small resort on the top of the nearby hills. However, it makes no sense for anyone to steal the crystal and take it into such a place, it´s nothing but a place of rest for those seeking enlightenment, not to mention there is no way further from there."

"That hardly makes any difference. If you can prepare what is otherwise necessary, then do so while we search for it, no sense in wasting time."

"Very well, if you feel confident that you can retrieve it, I´ll leave this to you. Take Black Whirlwind with you, he should know the way and lead you there."

_´Oh great, we will have to depend on a drunk to show us the way, hard to tell if this will prove entertaining or downright annoying,´_ thought Naruto, not really pleased with the new complications.

_"Looks like I was right, you really do have the worst luck of all,"_ stated the fox, a tad irritated with the forced wait as well.

Looking back the fox shaped statue, the blonde suddenly was startled when he felt an uncomfortably warm feeling from his hands. Was he so absorbed in the conversation that he didn´t notice? Looking down, he noticed that the skin on his palms was a shade of light red in color, almost like they were….

_´Burned? Wait, don´t tell me…is this from my lack of complete control? Looks like I will have to exercise more caution with how much power I will use, until I master their manipulation anyway.´_

Luckily for him, his extremely fast healing (bordering on regeneration) was one of the few things that he retained even in his new form, so the burns were vanishing almost instantaneously before his eyes. Still, he´d be cautious with his flame techniques just yet, no need to risk an injury for using more force than required.

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Contrary to his predictions, Black Whirlwind proved himself quite adept in navigating through the foliage even while drunk (something that the former Shinobi had to admire, since that was a rather difficult feat), leading them up the hills as promised, although listening to his drunken singing was not exactly the most pleasant of sounds (not to mention that it gave their position away to any who might be interested in hearing it).

On the other hand, the top of those hills seemed to be just the place where Dawn Star was leading them towards before, one that contained a large number of spirits (or rather unknown creatures with spiritual aura since the label could be applied to more than just souls of the dead), so it was not unreasonable to expect a battle.

Good, he liked it that way. Fights and battles were one of the things he truly enjoyed no matter where he was, the feeling of awareness and the rushing adrenaline was a sensation that he savored, so long as his opponent was fighting back at least.

However, he was interrupted from his musing as they were crossing a small bridge and he registered something running down the hill towards them. Were they under attack already? If so, who was the enemy?

Taking the lead, he motioned others stay still, a wise move since Black Whirlwind seemed just about ready to chop indiscriminately anything down to size, something that might come in handy but also risky if one was not completely certain that the rapidly approaching being was an enemy.

As the figure neared closer, his eyes slowly recognized more details and needless to say, this was not what he expected. Running towards them like all hell was nipping on his heels was a human. Human! Not a monster or a maddened ghost, a living breathing human. Or was it?

As if seeing that everyone in the group before him seemed ready to attack him (especially that muscle-bound giant in the back), the man abruptly stopped, almost tripped in his haste. Sweat rolled down his form, it was clear that he was in a hurry.

"Are you from the town? Has help finally arrived? Please, we are starving up there!"

While a kind and compassionate soul would immediately rush to help the man, Naruto remained in place, carefully studying the begging man with an analytical gaze. No matter how truthfully the man seemed to sound, he would never lower his guard for a total stranger, especially when he came from a place with heavy spiritual aura on it.

"Stay right where you are unless you want to get hurt. How about telling us who you are first? I am not really the type to blindly believe everything I hear."

Trying to compose himself, the man shakily nodded before looking behind him, almost as if afraid someone was there.

"I am one of the people who have been trapped up at the Inn for countless days now, our supplies are running low and to make things worse, a fox demon is killing anyone who tries to leave the inn. Several have already perished under its fangs and many are sure to follow."

Naturally that got everyone´s attention. To hear that the very being they sought was nearby was something they could not ignore.

However Naruto had an odd feeling about the man´s story. If what lord Yun could be believed then the fox the one watching over these woods and as such there must have been some reason for it to act the way this guy described it.

"Eh, are we going to up there or what," asked their axe wielding (and still drinking) guide.

"Wait. Dawn Star. Check his aura, see if there´s anything unusual about him."

Surprised by the unexpected request, the girl nonetheless complied, narrowing her eyes upon the man with a look of sheer concentration.

"For the most part he feels like a normal human from what I can tell, but there is something odd about his aura, enough for me to pick up, like something suppressed deep inside of him. It´s almost as if…..something´s closing in down the hill and fast!"

What followed was rather quick, taking even Naruto by surprise. As soon as the man heard the news, he tried to flee, only for a wooden branch to erupt from the ground, wrapping itself around him and effectively cutting off any means of escape.

The real killer would only come seconds later when a fur covered shape jumped out from a nearby bush, revealing a tall humanoid fox clad in a dark green colored (and rather fitting) clothes with two flowing tails behind her.

A closer inspection revealed that the fox was female, but the blonde was more interested in what the fox was doing. With a strange glow around her clawed hand, the fox gripped the man by his head and faster than anyone could react turned him into a stone statue that quickly shattered into countless pieces!

Gathering his bearings, Naruto prepared to defend himself when the fox seemed ready to go after them next. Indeed, the creature seemed ready to pounce upon them next, baring its fangs in a threatening way, until something seemed to catch its attention.

Sniffing the air, all present could hear the surprised (and very human-like) gasp of shock it gave off, all the while looking at him with an expression he could only guess meant confusion.

What was it that could inspire confusion in such a beast? What could make a being like that back off?

"What are you?"

Naruto blinked at that, surprised that he understood what the fox said! Although it was in a rather archaic dialect, he nonetheless understood the fur covered fox like he would any other human being.

However before he could ponder about it any further, the fox seemed to cut its advance and scram, disappearing into the foliage with frightening speed, leaving the four of them to think about what occurred.

_´What in the name of Rikudou was that? Mokuton? No, this felt a bit different from that. More importantly, what just happened? It had the advantage of surprise, so why did it suddenly flee like it was afraid of something?´_

_"Perhaps it sensed that there was more to you than meets the eye. But at the very least we know that there is a fox yokai in these lands and a ferocious one as well. Either way, we will no doubt meet it again, just like the nine of us back home were, these creatures are probably quite territorial,"_ wondered the Kyuubi aloud, not really moved by the encounter, unlike its host.

Naturally he was not the only one surprised by the current development, both Zu and Dawn Star stood rooted in place, one trying to wrap his mind around what he had seen and the other being generally horrified at seeing a living human petrified and shattered like a cheap vase.

Unsurprisingly, the Black Whirlwind only checked his bottle as if checking what he had drunk, and then only shrugged his shoulders, apparently not really bothered with the situation.

"Was that the Forest Shadow? She killed that man so brutally…"

"It´s too soon to make an assumption like that just yet" interrupted Naruto, drawing everyone´s attention.

"For one, we can´t be certain that the one she killed was a human to begin with. You said it yourself that there was something strange about him. And second, the statue in the temple had three tails instead of two, so we have no way to be sure that it was actually the same being."

"I see. That sounds logical, but at the same time what is the probability of another demonic fox being in the area?" muttered Zu, scratching his chin.

_"Higher than you could ever imagine human,"_ laughed the Kyuubi in Naruto´s mind, highly amused at the irony. The blonde in question ignored his tenant and replied in response.

"How should I know? I´m no more knowledgeable on this than you are."

"Then why did it retreat so suddenly? It seemed quite interested in you for some reason."

This was always one of the things he did not enjoy. Although as a Shinobi he was trained as a professional liar if need be, he never enjoyed lying.

Thankfully this time he really did not know the answer (although some part of him deduced a possible answer already, one that horrified him to no end), so despite his suspicions he could tell the truth.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Now come on, we still have to look for that crystal. Maybe something up there will give us some answers."

None argued with that, only Zu seemed that he was not satisfied with the answer. If he truly thought that the blonde was keeping secrets, he did not voice it, merely opting to follow, silent as ever.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So this is the place. Seems pretty ordinary and boring to me," remarked Black Whirlwind as he took another swing from the bottle, making Naruto only shake his head in amusement that such a skilled and strong fighter had a quirk like that.

Then again, it was fine with him, compared to some of the other quirks he experienced with the more experienced ninja in his first lifetime (Jiraya and his almost chronic obsession with peeping and the like, Gai and Lee and their extremely devastating sunset hug, the list went on) this was pretty tolerable so far.

Although the drunken warrior had a point, the place did not look like anything special, just a small normal wooden inn with a small garden, surrounded by a stone wall with a part missing as an entrance.

"Don´t let your guard down. This place has so much leftover spiritual aura that it´s covering the area like a fog. I´m afraid my spiritual detection won´t be of much help here, the way things are I could not detect a spiritual being even if it was standing right beside me."

"Do you know why or how this thing occurs?"

"From what Master Li told me during my studies, there are a few possible explanations. The first and most common one would simply come into existence on its own on lands that house a large number of spiritual creatures, from the spirits that live in the physical world just like we do, to demons and recently also the restless dead.

The second are places where events of great tragedies occurred, like the sites of long forgotten battlegrounds and the like. And third and possibly the worst scenario would that such a state was created by someone to conceal something, although no human could possibly hope to ever create something of this magnitude."

_´Great, so we are heading into a possible ambush without the means to detect an enemy approach….unless they were human to begin with. Oh well, let´s get this over with.´_

"Don´t sweat it, at least we know that someone does not want us discovering whatever is hidden here. Everyone keep your guard up, there´s no telling what we might expect," spoke Naruto in his best authoritative and commanding tone, making some of his companions blink in surprise but everyone nodded in acceptance nonetheless, even Black Whirlwind seemed unusually focused and serious for once.

Armed and dangerous, the four of them pressed on, knowing that more than likely they were headed right into the lair of the enemy, the remaining question was who that enemy was.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A loud scream echoed throughout the cavern, the agony filled sound made every living being that heard it freeze in terror.

Hidden in the darkness, the once majestic creature clawed at the cold earth with a desperate and futile effort to stop whatever was happening, but to no avail. The same voice kept whispering in its head, taunting and laughing at his predicament.

"How pathetic, all brawns and no brains. But I suppose that it cannot be helped with brutes like you. You came to this place so self-assured that this place was under the control of your little group, but times have changed since you people were last here."

"This should be impossible. The barrier of this planet was not breached save for that one stray soul entering here years ago," rasped the guardian, known by his peers as Chai Ka.

"And that´s where the irony of the situation comes into play. We have little need to directly step in, your beloved mortals did all the work for us, all they required was a little push and in a few generations your precious order came tumbling down without you even knowing about it.

That so called barrier even prevented you people from noticing it in the first place. And in the case one of your numbers would arrive to investigate, I was set up to take care of the sick work. So stop resisting and hand over this body, I will make good use of it."

"Never."

"Defiant till the end is it? That´s fine, this way I get to enjoy your anguish all the more. A pity that the soul of the girl had gone unresponsive, but yours will have to do. And as for that one soul you were supposed to deliver, I can deal with him any time now that you will not be in my way. Although given where he is heading, there might be no need to bother at all…."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And there you have it. For those who want an illustration on how the Dire Flame works (or at least that was how the style was named in the original, take it up with them), imagine fire-bending from Avatar:TLA, although naturally Naruto is not yet at the level they manipulate it there, though that will change in time. Regardless, if you have any questions or suggestions send me a PM or something.

See you all next time, please leave a review if you liked it (or even if you don´t, both is fine) and until then, best of luck to you all...


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everybody, welcome back to my story (can´t believe it´s chapter seven already) so without further delay, enjoy…..**

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What is it that a person expects to encounter when stepping into enemy territory? Deadly traps that would kill the unwary? Or perhaps fearsome monsters that would strike fear into the heart of all whom so much as glimpsed at them?

Yet as he watched the scene in front of him, Naruto could not help but be baffled at what is eyes were telling him.

He expected an ambush or a trap of some kind, yet all he saw were living breathing humans either walking about or merely sitting where they could. All in all, he counted about twenty people around, not including his own group.

No, it was too early to dismiss his suspicions, especially considering what happened a short while ago when one of these people got killed (and in a rather unusual fashion as well) right in front of him by a demon fox.

Why were there so many of them here in the middle of nowhere anyway? It was supposed to be a refuge for pilgrims and some of the patrons really did not look like anything of the sort. If there was a trap in the place, then the settings were not very convincing, at least in his eyes.

"So here we are. What do you say boss? Do we kill them or ask them for a drink? This is an inn right?"

Leave it to Black Whirlwind to give you a simple solution to every problem. The man was a bit simple but at least he was honest to a fault in everything he did. Like with how he had started to call him boss, something he did not do even with his true employers.

When asked about it, the giant simply replied that he was the one who defeated him in one on one combat fair and square, so he was fine following his orders so long as the blonde did not breach one of his rules (which was fairly simple since there only three in total, namely no touching his booze, no touching his axes and not getting between him and his enemies).

Meanwhile, Zu had to raise an eyebrow at the rather blunt way his companion asked about killing everyone present, while Dawn Star seemed shocked beyond belief.

"How can you ask something like that so casually? We are talking about unarmed people here!"

"Eh? What´s the big deal? For all we know those guys stole that crystal or whatever and it´s quicker to kill them all than finding out which one of them was it."

"Both of you calm down and don´t make a scene, they could hear us at this rate you know? We are here to find the summoning crystal, everything else is secondary. Here is how things are: We move in, we question those people and try finding the crystal, provided it´s still there anyway. If they attack us, we fight back, simple as that."

"I supposed you have a plan," inquired Sagacious, once again in his monotone voice, getting a nod in response.

"Yeah. I might have a way to get this done, provided things don´t get out of hand first. But for this to run smoothly, we will need to work closely together, otherwise there´s no telling what might happen."

Since nobody really argued, he continued.

"Zu, since this place has only one visible entrance, you make sure none of them try to leave while we are dealing with the problem. Whirlwind, you observe from the back and if they try to attack, they are all yours."

Receiving a slight nod and a rather enthusiastic (not to mention a tad bloodthirsty) grin respectively, the blonde turned to the raven-haired beauty.

"Dawn Star, since your fighting style complements mine and we work well together, you are with me. I´m trusting you with watching my back around these people, can you do that?"

"Not to worry, I´m with you" replied the young woman with an unflinching determination, her heated exchange with Black Whirlwind laid aside for the moment, although somewhere deep inside her heart a part of her could not help but wonder just on how many levels she meant her proclamation.

Meanwhile, Naruto could not help but remember at how much this reminded him of his first mission in the position as a squad leader as a Tokubetsu Jounin back in Konoha, which consisted of infiltrating a fortress near the borders of Land of Earth.

He only hoped that this little search would not end up just like that mission, namely with an ambush and fighting for their lives while trying to get out of the site as fast as possible under the circumstances.

_´Knowing my luck, it just might happen though´_ thought the blonde with a grimace on his face. It was not that he was an unlucky person, on the contrary, most people in the leaf village would tell you that he had the devil´s own luck, however when said luck resulted in him being alive when everyone else died (something that took him a long time to come to grips with), it kind of took out all the hype out of it.

Bracing himself, Naruto entered the Pilgrim´s Rest Inn, hoping to solve the mystery in front of him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Countless miles away, in the flying palace that floated above the capital city of Jade Empire, Sun Li was having a family reunion, although not the kind one could look forward to, the fact that he was still bound by chains was the least of his worries.

Looking upwards, he was greeted by the face of his elder brother, Sun Hai. Unlike his sibling whose hair had already turned gray, the emperor looked completely untouched by time, appearing not a day old from the last time they saw each other two decades ago.

Looking down from his throne, the emperor dismissed his guards, leaving him in the room only with his brother and Death´s Hand. The former general knew well why they were left alone; after all, some secrets are not for the ears of the common soldier.

"So this is how the members of our family reunite, one being the supreme ruler of all the empire and the other being a traitor held in chains like a common criminal. I see the years have not been kind to you," mused the emperor with an arrogant and uncaring face, as if a member of his own family was a nothing but a speck of dirt on the floor.

"We all face our challenges, wouldn´t you agree brother? But I noticed that you forget our youngest sibling, I wonder what he would think about it," mused the bound captive, a small smile on his wrinkled face.

"He can think all he likes, Sun Kin is dead and his legacy now serves my will. But enough of that, where is the amulet stolen from the temple of Dirge? I know you stole it and yet it was nowhere to be found in that little village you were hiding in. Where is it?!"

An incredible pressure slammed into Sun Li, pressing him against the floor with no hope of moving whatsoever and driving the breath out of him. This was the power of the man that years ago accomplished something no mortal before dared to even think of, let alone commit, murdering a deity and on the very ground it was worshiped no less.

He knew, mainly because he was there when it happened, he saw it happen with his own two eyes and now he once again felt just how immensely powerful his brother had become as a result of that blasphemous act.

However, no matter how much power the tyrant in front of him had, he was not out of options. He knew that his student would come after him regardless of the danger, be it for revenge or simply for answers, wielding the one thing that might stand a chance at defeating his sibling. It was a gamble, but the man known as the Glorious Strategist was never completely helpless or defeated, no, he was perhaps one of the few people who were more dangerous when kept captive than free.

And that was only the proverbial top of the iceberg, he knew very well that eventually his identity would leak to the others in the palace no matter how the emperor would try to hide the truth from them and out of those, some still retained their loyalty to him even after all these years.

Steeling himself for the inevitable brutal questioning, Sun Li nonetheless allowed himself a small smirk to come to his face. He was not out of the game just yet…no, in a way this was only getting started.

Standing nearby, Death´s Hand watched the events unfold, his face concealed by the darkness of his helmet, betraying nothing of what the dreaded warrior thought of what was happening in front of him, not that his master would be interested in it anyway.

No, his place was clear, a messenger of death hidden in the shadows, the unstoppable force that would exterminate any opposition to his lord and emperor. Or at least so everyone assumed…..

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Suppressing a sigh, the blonde had to admit that they were getting nowhere. The people all around either unresponsive or they kept evading answering his questions as much as they could. If anything that confirmed his suspicions that what he was looking for was still around and one of their number knew where.

But that was hardly the beginning of his worries, those glances and glares they kept sending him and his comrades made him nervous. There was simply something quite not right with those people, of that he was sure. Hell the only one who seemed somewhat cooperative, the innkeeper himself, was subtly observing him with a gaze that spoke of barely concealed hostility.

On top of that, was it getting warmer all of a sudden? No, that was not it, something was burning against his chest. The amulet! The golden trinket was heating up quickly against his chest, though for what purpose he could only begin to speculate.

Unknown to him, this was the second instance the amulet had begun acting on its own, but only now did he notice its urging.

Should he check up on it here in front of everyone? Even if its exact function was unknown to him, it was clear that his people once thought of it as highly important if Sun Li´s words held any truth in them.

Gah! It was acting up like crazy, the heat becoming unbearable with every passing second. No other choice, better to take it out than let it make a mark on his skin. However, even in his wildest dreams he could never imagine what would come next.

Yanking the amulet from behind his shirt, the golden dragon head shining like a miniature sun, the blonde had to narrow his eyes to the point of nearly closing them to prevent himself being blinded by the light. But even then he noticed what the effect on those around him was.

Their shapes blurred and distorted, the surrounding patrons gave a shriek of surprise as they were caught by surprise that the sudden turn of events.

However, their voices no longer sounded like those of normal humans, resembling some sort of beasts from hell itself. And as the light of the amulet revealed their true form, even the blonde had to say that it was not an exaggeration.

Sickly greying skin, fang filled jaws dripping with foul looking saliva and cold, malice filled eyes that could never pass for those of a human, the image presented to them was one of a living nightmare, for what else could bear such a visage?

The light of the dragon slowly dimmed until it became only a small glint, its intent apparently done, however at this point no one really paid it any heed, Naruto and his team were getting over their surprise, just in time to defend themselves against the creatures that by now dropped all pretense of humanity, lunging at them with rabid ferocity.

Cursing out loud, the blonde kicked the closest creature back into the others, flinging his spear free from its bindings on his back with practiced speed. There was no reason to hesitate here, no reason to hold back. The first one to get close got run through, but more neared him with the intent to rip him limb from limb.

From the corner of his eyes he saw the others holding their own, meaning he could fight without distractions. Using the still impaled monster on his spear, he maneuvered it right into the path of several of the approaching beasts before withdrawing it, sending them tumbling over each other.

Despite fighting for his life, something about this just seemed so refreshing that he felt more alive than in countless years before. The thrill of battle, knowing the slightest mistake could be the end of him…..it spoke to him with a call that was both beautiful and haunting at the same time.

Of course he was no bloodthirsty beast that lived only for its next fill of blood, he would never become the senior student of master Li if he was, but there was a sense of comfort that only true life threatening battles could bring.

He honestly blamed his Shinobi upbringing for that, since at that time it was either get used to fighting, quit or die, it was that simple. Obviously he chose the first option and what better way to endure the constant battles than enjoy being challenged?

Hurling his weapon forward, catching two more of the beasts, a small but satisfied grin appeared on his face as he met his opponents blow for blow. Armed or unarmed, it mattered not, as long as he could draw breath he would fight no matter what opposition challenged him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Slicing up another of the creatures that tried to sneak up on her, Dawn Star breathed in relief as she gained more room for movement. By the spirits, what were those things? The restless souls were unnatural but they still felt human on some level, the aura of these things was so foul and disturbing she felt almost sick just by being near them.

Out of reflex she decapitated another of the disgusting things that lunged for her throat and with a practiced swing cleaned the blood out the blade. The calm with which she did so surprised even her, but with all that happened she supposed that things like that didn´t matter anymore.

Still, what were those things anyway? During her studies she read through more than a few scrolls depicting the creatures that were to be found in the Jade Empire, yet those things resembled nothing she could remember. Or perhaps the key to this mystery was that they were possibly not native to the empire lands?

Not far from her position she could see Black Whirlwind hacking through them with a maniacal grin, not that she expected him to do otherwise. It reminded her however that there would be time to examine those fiends later, right now she needed to focus on the fight.

Seeing quite a few more arriving from the back of the building, she gripped her sword tight and steadied herself, meeting the enemy head on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Finally, the last one of the creatures lying dead on the floor and the four of them could lower their weapons, even if at least in one case it was met with disappointment. Retrieving his spear, Naruto did not even bother to wrap it up this time, since there was no need for it this time.

Wiping a bit of sweat of his forehead, the blonde noticed that a bit of his natural hair color was starting to show, the combination of dirt and improvised coloring slowly starting to wear off. Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Noticing that everyone was more or less unharmed, he voiced the question that´s been bothering him

"So, anyone got an idea what those things are? I don't think I´ve ever had the displeasure of meeting something this ugly before and that´s saying something.

"Who cares? I only wish they´d last longer, this was barely a warm up," complained Whirlwind, not so happy about the fight being over so quickly.

"I´m afraid that even during my travels I´ve never encountered something like this, although I must say that amulet of yours proved to be a lifesaver," wondered Zu aloud.

Nodding, Naruto nonetheless frowned. Even if those things were not that strong on their own, if it wasn´t for the amulet they might have caught them by surprise and he did not like that, not one bit. Although how come that it had reacted so strongly only now of all times?

"I might have an idea, although it makes little sense that they would appear here."

Eyebrows raised in surprise, Naruto turned to Dawn Star who was now stood crouched above one of the corpses, studying the remains while trying to shield her nose from the stench.

"You know something about these things?"

"Maybe. If I´m right, those creatures are simply known as Maurezhi, flesh-eating demons that prey on humans, assuming the form of those they consume, or so the old scrolls say at least. Supposedly they are pretty weak as far as demonic creatures go, relying on their numbers and their shape shifting to lure their prey to their clutches," explained the girl, the flesh consuming part making even Zu and Whirlwind cringe.

"Interesting. You seem to know quite a bit about this," commented Sagacious, sounding slightly surprised.

"It´s nothing really, just remembering what I read about back…back in Two Rivers."

"Still, it´s impressive that you know about all this, do you know anything else that might give us a clue why they are here," questioned the blonde, getting a shy smile in response.

"Not much left I´m afraid. They supposedly do not venture far from their lair and are not very tolerable of anyone but their kind. Still, it´s odd for them to be here in the first place, they prefer more frequented places like trading routes or generally everywhere where a lot of people frequently appear."

"Troubling. Still, at least we now know for sure that the fox did not kill a defenseless human but one of these things."

Seeing her surprise, Naruto continued.

"You said it yourself, these things do not tolerate humans, so no way that guy back then was one. He was probably trying to direct us up here like anyone else. And I guess they set up that aura that messed with your senses earlier to prevent anyone from detecting them."

"Eh, that´s all great and all, but aren´t we here for that gem?" asked their axe wielding guide, obviously not getting what they were talking about and neither did he seem to care either.

"True, now that we have killed every last one of those things we have to do things the hard way, search their bodies and look around until we find it. Ugh, let´s do this quick, I don´t want to imagine how these things smell when decaying, it´s bad enough as it is….."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As luck would have it, the search itself ended quicker than he feared and not a moment too soon in his eyes, since he was not the only one itching to get out of there, the blonde stopping only for a moment when he saw a barrel full of surprisingly clean water.

He was getting a bit tired of the pointless charade, sure it might help in making him inconspicuous, but what was the point when none who knew both his the truth of his origins and his real face lived to tell the tale?

In the end, the answer was simple. After saving up some of the water for drinking, he submerged his head in the rest of it, letting his original hair color show once again. Looking at the reflection, he smiled with a bit of satisfaction, this was much better after all.

Slicking his blonde locks back a bit so they would not get into his eyes, Naruto could feel him mood improving a bit, especially considering what was going to happen next. Joining his companions outside, Zu was the first to ask.

"So now that we have the crystal, are we going to deliver it to the temple?"

"Naturally. First to get rid of this little hideout though, no sense in leaving it standing anymore since it got tainted by those Maurezhi," replied the blonde, a large mass of flames appearing around his hand.

Seeing no reason not to continue, he let the power loose, watching it engulf the wooden building with frightening speed, the blazing inferno reflecting in his features. After being sure that the fire would not spread to the forest below, the four left, all of them hoping that there would be no further interruptions.

The supposedly easy part of their task was done, but the real challenge yet awaited them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You have it? Excellent, I was beginning to worry if you were going to return. I saw the smoke and feared the worse," greeted Spear Catches Leaf the returning party.

"Well we would have done this faster if we knew that the damn place was crawling with demons," nonchalantly replied Naruto, noticing the shock in the man´s face when he heard that.

"Demons? How is that possible? There were no reported sightings of any demonic creatures around for centuries, aside from the Forest Shadow herself of course."

"Well apparently things have changed. But leave that for later, we got what you wanted, now let´s get this thing started."

Nodding, still a bit shaken to respond, the hunter nonetheless nodded and went to do what he was here for in the first place, all but forgetting to be confused how the young man seemingly changed his hair color in a matter of hours.

The ceremony thankfully did not take long and in a few minutes Naruto and his group could watch a shimmering oval open up from thin air. Through it, they could faintly see another landscape, although the view was a bit blurred and hardly focused.

"So this is it? We just what…..walk through it?" questioned the blonde, looking at the portal with suspicion. This was not something he was accustomed to, so naturally he was wary of this strange technique.

"Yes, for generations the ancestors of lord Yun has used this method to directly enter the realm of the Forest Shadow in times of crisis, so it should probably be safe."

"Isn´t that reassuring," grumbled the blue-eyed youth before turning to his companions.

He knew that all three of them would probably follow him for one reason or another, but he wanted to make sure that it was really their choice. Even if this ritual worked in the past, he maintained a good deal of skepticism regarding whether the whole thing was safe or not.

"As it stands, there is no guarantee what will happen on the other side, if anyone would want to wait this out now is the time to speak. Rest assured that I will not hold it against you regardless what you choose."

"And leave you on your own? I appreciate the thought Naruto, but I am not letting you do everything on your own," countered Dawn Star, Zu only nodding his head that he felt the same way. That left Black Whirlwind to decide, although the blonde had a feeling that if there was a chance for a fight with a lot of bloodshed, the man would say yes to anybody.

"And miss all the potential fights? You are not hogging every good battle to yourself blondie, not if I can do something about it," boasted the broad-shouldered mercenary, giving a few practice swings with his axes.

Although his eyes twitched for a few seconds at the clear crack at his unusual (in these lands anyway) hair color, Naruto took that as an affirmative and after a brief mental battle reluctantly reached towards the strange portal.

To his surprise his hand went right through it, a slight tingling sensation enveloping it as it passed its border. But it was not painful or unpleasant, so he continued, closing his eyes and making the final step forward, honestly hoping that for once nothing bad would happen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When he opened his eyes again, he honestly thought that things have gone horribly wrong again or that some higher force really liked making everything complicated for him. Oh he was somewhere else all right, but the question was if it was the right place or not.

For the most part they were surrounded by trees, like those back in the forest, but this time a strange fog seemed to cover the grassy ground, giving the place an eerie appearance. The small forest temple was nowhere in sight, only the portal still being in its proper place.

"Is everyone all right?"

A loud curse alerted him to where Black Whirlwind was and seconds later Dawn Star gave a response as well. However, Zu was unresponsive.

"Zu? Where are you?"

"Over here!"

Walking slowly over in the direction where he heard the response from, Naruto was surprised to see the scarred man looking down on something while holding to a tree with one hand, almost as if afraid he would fall. What in the blazes was he doing?

But as soon as he reached him, he understood his caution and almost did the same thing in reflex. Right where the mist seemed to dissipate, the land itself ended with a steep edge! He could see clouds and the blue color of the sky beneath them. What was the meaning of this?

Standing upon the edge of the land he was standing on, he could see several small floating pieces of earth and stones beneath them, some of them even covered in vegetation. How was this possible? Technically speaking if they truly were that high as the view suggested, then breathing should be extremely difficult if not impossible.

"What is going on here?"

While not the most intelligent of questions, it summed up his thoughts perfectly.

_"Kyuubi, what is going on here? Is this an illusion? If so, then it´s a really convincing one I´d say."_

_**"Nothing is messing with your senses, so either this is as real as it looks like or we crossed onto another plane altogether where things might be different altogether, at least if that portal was any indication, " **_paused the giant fox before continuing.

_**"Still, now I want to see this Forest Shadow even more, if she is capable of having something like this then it should be interesting meeting her in person. From the few memories of my siblings that I hold on to, I´d say that Nibi would have liked this place."**_

_´Provided we can reach her at all that is´_ thought Naruto, not at all convinced that things would go so smoothly.

"Everyone seeing this or was there something funny in the wine," asked Whirlwind as he wandered closer, apparently this being rather unusual even in his book.

"No, we all do. And I don´t think it´s a hallucination either, everything around us feels saturated with dormant spiritual power, I´ve never seen such a large mass of it focused in one place ever before," replied Dawn Star, looking around with a mixed look of awe, fascination and alert.

"Let´s hope that we landed in the right place then, whoever is holding this place together is certainly no weakling. That and all of us will have to watch our footing; even a single wrong step could send us plummeting to our deaths," observed Zu.

"Actually I might be able to help with that, with the land here so heavily saturated with energy I can see its outlines even with the fog. The downside is that such a heavy concentration of it makes it hard for me to sense anything that might approach us, let alone detecting any spiritual entity at all" replied the dark haired woman, sounding apologetic.

"Let come what might come, I´d much rather risk a fight than falling to my death. Can you please show us the way Dawn Star? If what you say is true then you are probably the only one right now who can walk the path safely."

"I-I can try. The whole place is actually not that large, so we should not have much trouble navigating around."

Nonetheless, the four of them once again pressed forward, navigating through the foliage, but soon it became evident that they were not the only ones who were trying to get around. Signs of battle were all around them, scorch marks and small trenches scarred the ground more and more as they went towards what appeared to be the center of this strange place.

And as expected, bodies soon followed. Countless dozens of Maurezhi, humanoid foxes like the one they briefly encountered at the bridge and some even stranger things they could barely begin to imagine what they were in life, all those corpses sprawled about where death had claimed them.

_´Great, I am hoping to find a demon fox and instead I step into another war it seems. Just what is going on?´_

_**"A struggle for dominance apparently. Surprising but not unexpected. I told you once didn´t I? Even back in Elemental Nations various yokai, even us bijuu always fought for one reason or another. Just because you humans are unaware of it does not mean it is not happening"**_ replied the fox to his thoughts, smirking confidently as it continued.

_**"There is always a battle or a war going on no matter what path you tread, for every light there must be darkness. And despite neither of us knowing much of this world yet, I can tell that we are only starting to see the surface of what it is truly like. So go on Naruto, continue on your journey and see that there is so much to this life than you could ever imagine."**_

So focused was he on listening to the (in a way) startling monologue of his partner that he almost missed the approaching threat. Filing away what he heard for later, the blonde could not help but feel a bit of dread as he heard heavy footsteps making their way towards them.

A dark shape was emerging from the wood work, a pair of glowing eyes visible from the shadows, their very gaze unnerving the blonde a bit. Sure, he had stared into the eyes of the Kyuubi countless times, but unlike the calm regal look the fox usually had there was no intelligence in that stare, only a mindless blood lust and the desire to destroy everything around.

As the owner of those burning eyes came closer, a burst of fire revealed its form, one of a monstrous black horse standing on two legs like a human would (the other pair of limbs ending in vicious looking claws), wreathed in flames and its head nothing but a bare skull, devoid of any flesh or skin.

Roaring in fury, the twisted abomination breathed a torrent of fire in their way, and then charged forward with speeds comparable to its normal counterpart, forcing everyone to get out of the way.

Frowning, Naruto could tell that this would be nowhere as easy as the previous battle, provided they all manage to get out of this encounter alive at all.

_´Why does everything have to go so wrong all the time,´_ were his thoughts as he prepared to fight for his very life…..again.

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**And thus the chapter ends. I apologize for ending it with such a cliffhanger, but please bear with me. Originally the fight itself was included, but after some thinking I decided to leave it for the next one (hence why the chapter is a tad shorter than I would like), along with Naruto finally meeting the mysterious demon fox Forest Shadow, so at least you can all have something to look forward to.**

**Anyway, as always, please leave a review and I will see you all at some other time….**


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